Spidey, Bond, Matrix: Weekly Round Up

26th August 2019

Spidey, Bond, Matrix: Weekly Round Up – Okay. So, where the hell do we begin this week, eh? What a week! Shall we start with the big one, or shall we start with the one smaller pieces? I guess old web-head is as good a place to start as any right? I’m assuming most of you likely already know the news, but just in case, let’s bring you all up to speed… buckle up, it’s going to be a bit of a wild ride.

Way back when, before the dark times, before the Empire (or… The Disney Corporation was what it was), Marvel Comics was a failing company on the verge of bankruptcy. As a result, they sold of lots of their movie rights – this is part of the reason why the X-Men and Fantastic Four were unable to appear in the MCU until Disney swallows Fox… more on that later – and one such character they sold the movie rights for was Spidey.

Sony Pictures were, and still are, the owners of the Spider-Man movie rights. It was Sony Pictures who produced the Sam Raimi movies (the first of which arguably kick-started the current superhero trend and the second of which is still widely regarded as one of the best superhero movies ever made), and it was Sony Pictures who revamped the project to disastrous effect with The Amazing Spider-Man.

The reason why Spidey was able to appear in the MCU more recently was because of a deal struck between Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios, who are now owned by Disney (yes, them again). The deal was that Sony would produce the solo-outings, inputting the full production costs and maintaining final creative control, while taking 95% of the Box Office of those films. In return for the remaining 5% of Box Office takings, Disney would allow Sony to utilize their characters in the standalone films, and would also be able to use Spider-Man in their team-up movies.

Now, the team-up movies are entirely produced and funded by Disney, and Disney keep 100% of their takings. Disney also have 100% of the merchandising rights on Spider-Man.

Which, as far as I’m concerned seemed like a pretty fair deal, until Disney decided that owning Marvel, Fox, Pixar, Lucasfilm and ABC wasn’t quite enough, and that they would a 50/50 on any future solo Spidey outings. Sony, quite rightfully, told them to do one, and as a result Spider-Man will no longer be appearing in the MCU.

Or, at least, that’s how it appears at the moment.

Now we’ve got that out of the way –

The new James Bond film is apparently going to be called No Time To Die. Which is a fine title, I guess. It’s a great title for a Die Hard sequel (No Time To Die Hard 6: No Time To Die Harder), but it’s a fine one for a James Bond film.

Not much else is really known about the new Bond at this point, and we’ve got other stuff to cover, so let’s move swiftly along.

Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss are reportedly returning for a new Matrix movie. What the hell this will actually be about is beyond me, since I though (although I don’t particularly like Reloaded and Revolutions) that the trilogy was pretty much capped off at this point, but there are several interesting aspect about this announcement.

The first is that it’s being referred to as The Matrix 4, and not as some prequel or spin-off, which seems to suggest that it’s a direct continuation of the original trilogy. Admittedly this is intriguing and I’m very curious to hear more. The second key thing is that it’s set to be written and directed by Lana Watchowski, but not Lilly. Take form that what you will…

Set to start filming in 2020, we may have to wait have to wait for more news on this one, but it’s a rather tantalizing concept none-the-less. If it can outdo the two sequels then at least we won’t have to end the franchises on the sour note that it currently sits, and it is of course possible that this new movie might be designed to kickstart an expended universe type of deal. I’ve always felt The Matrix was somewhat ahead of its time on that one, and that in part is why the Animatrix never really took of the way it was expected to.

Nonetheless, I’m curious enough to want to know more, so I’ll be following this one closely.

Oh, and The Hunt is still currently shelved, with sucks. #ReleaseTheHuntNow.

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