And you thought there’s no way we can keep talking about “Spider-Man” today, right? Well, jokes on you! You see, after today’s news that Sony and Disney have worked out their differences, and it apparently all came down to money (shocking…), there is one more bit of information that has to get cleared up before you can all go to bed tonight with a smile on your face.
According to a new report from Deadline, filmmaker Jon Watts is in talks to return to the ‘Spider-Man’ franchise for a third outing. As mentioned in a report from a few weeks back, even though Watts was assumed to return for a third film before the whole Sony/Disney debacle, the filmmaker actually was never signed on. So, when the fight between the studios over the future of the franchise became the focal point of the discussion, Watts just sat on the sidelines waiting to see how it all turned out.
The report claims that since Sony is happy with its new deal with Disney, the studio has moved on to the Watts situation and expects to have the director locked up in short order. Obviously, this makes complete sense for everyone involved, considering the previous two films, both directed by Watts, were massive critical and box office successes. This year’s ‘Far From Home’ actually became the highest-grossing film in Sony’s history. So, common sense dictates that the studio would want the director back.
Now that the deal between the two studios over “Spider-Man” is done, we’ll never know what would have happened if Sony moved on without Marvel Studios’ help. Would Watts come back without the producing tutelage of Kevin Feige? We’ll never know. But, honestly, at this point, it doesn’t matter because all the bigwigs are pleased with each other and fans will be happy to know that the future of Tom Holland’s ‘Spider-Man’ franchise is in good hands…at least for now. I mean, there’s no promise that we don’t enter this Spidey hell once again when this new deal is over.
The untitled “Spider-Man 3” is set to be released on July 16, 2021. So, you have to assume that Watts will hit the ground running to get this film going in time for that release date.