Sony's credit rating cut to "junk"...Implications for Spider-Man?

[Ian Keldon]

http://news.yahoo.com/fitch-downgrad...XBhZ2U-;_ylv=3

This will only fuel speculation that has been running around that Marvel will regain rights to Spider-Man.

Is the next film going to be yet ANOTHER reboot?

[Professor Zoom]

Has there been any speculation? First I've heard of it. Link?
Most of the talk is about who is being cast in the sequel.
Why would Sony get rid of Spiderman, it makes money for them.

[Tosk]

"Implications for Spider-Man?"

No. None whatsoever.

[Christopher]

Professor Zoom wrote:

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Why would Sony get rid of Spiderman, it makes money for them.

It's not a question of the film studio getting rid of the Spider-Man franchise, but of the Sony corporation itself, a multinational conglomerate dealing in electronics and finance as well as film, television, and publishing, possibly selling off its entire entertainment division. The conglomerate as a whole is struggling for reasons having to do with the state of the Japanese economy, it needs to stop losing money, and selling off its entertainment division could bring it a lot of profit, as well as reducing its overhead because it wouldn't need to invest money in making movies/TV/etc. anymore.

So it's not specifically about one film franchise. The studio itself would be sold to some other huge conglomerate, and the rights to all its movie properties would presumably be sold along with the studio. Although some are speculating that the sale could give Marvel an opportunity to buy back the Spidey rights even if the studio as a whole goes to somebody else. I.e. they might make Sony a better offer for those rights alone than another studio would make for those rights as part of the entire package of Columbia Pictures and its intellectual property.

[Admiral James Kirk]

I sure hope Marvel gets it's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man back. Sure it might mean another reboot but I want to see how Marvel would reboot Spidey this time. Besides I think I'm the only guy on the planet who not only likes origin stories but likes multiple versions of them.

[Christopher]

I think Marvel might be willing to continue the current Spidey film continuity rather than rebooting again. IIRC, I've heard that they were willing to insert TASM's Oscorp Tower into their digital Manhattan in The Avengers, but that the CGI was too far along by that point to let them make the change.

[Admiral_Young]

Sony's financial situation has affected films like "Ghostbusters III" (filming has been delayed) and I have read that another film went to Paramount or something (I think it was Adam Sandler's next film) but I haven't heard or read anything about it affecting Spider-Man. I believe the CEO was asked about this several weeks ago and denied anything would happen to Spider-Man and they have no plans to do anything with the rights (this was asked basically right after the Disney deal with LucasFilm happened).

[Kelthaz]

Well, of course the CEO is going to say that Spider-Man is all well and good regardless of the actual situation. The question is if he's telling the truth or playing the role of Baghdad Bob.

[MacLeod]

Well it wasn't just Sony that had it's credit rating relegated to junk but Panasonic as well.

I suspect that part of it is cost, with competitor's like Samsung better responding to the market, and offering just as good products as Sony. If I were to purchase A sony TV for example over a Samsung I suspect I would pay more for the Sony. So If I can save myself a hundred and get as good why not save the hundred.

I think it's more the TV/DVD production side of Sony that's run into trouble. So rather than any films what about the PS4? After all the PS3 is what the third most popular of the 360/PS3/Wii generation consoles. The PS2 was number one If I recall correctly.

A couple of articles related to this news.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20443294

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20449083

[Captaindemotion]

Another factor may be how separate Sony keeps its entertainment division from its manufacturing division. If they're all free-standing divisions, with 'Chinese walls' (or Japanese walls in this case) between them, then Sony's tv and electronics may not be able to benefit from the sale of their ents division - it all depends on how creatively their accounts are set up.

And it should also be remembered that Marvel studios are notoriously thrifty. If Spidey's right go up to the highest bidder, then, while we would all like to think that Marvel is the webslinger's natural home - but they could well be outbid by another studio.

[Kelthaz]

MacLeod wrote:

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So rather than any films what about the PS4? After all the PS3 is what the third most popular of the 360/PS3/Wii generation consoles. The PS2 was number one If I recall correctly.

The Playstation 2 was ungodly successful, but the Playstation 3 was a failure. This article is from February 2011, but in the 4 years since launching the PS3 Sony had lost nearly $5 billion on the system. They're probably eking out a tiny profit now, but overall they've lost billions on the PS3.

http://www.vg247.com/2009/10/30/sony...launching-ps3/

[Dream]

Kelthaz wrote:

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So rather than any films what about the PS4? After all the PS3 is what the third most popular of the 360/PS3/Wii generation consoles. The PS2 was number one If I recall correctly.

Saying your third most popular of the current generation consoles is just a nice way of saying your dead last!

[Agenda]

I'm not that enthused about Marvel getting all their properties back. Major studios only have room for so many movie releases. Let's say Disney gets everything back and then realizes that only X-Men, Spider-Man, and Avengers are the real money makers, like DC focusing mainly on Batman and Superman. Say goodbye to solo movies for guys like Thor. At least with multiple companies you're more guaranteed you'll get more movies.

[Kelthaz]

That is a good point that I hadn't considered. Sony might want to release a Spider-Man movie to compete with say Iron Man, but Marvel would have no reason to release both films and split the box office.

[FordSVT]

Captaindemotion wrote:

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Another factor may be how separate Sony keeps its entertainment division from its manufacturing division. If they're all free-standing divisions, with 'Chinese walls' (or Japanese walls in this case) between them, then Sony's tv and electronics may not be able to benefit from the sale of their ents division - it all depends on how creatively their accounts are set up.

And it should also be remembered that Marvel studios are notoriously thrifty. If Spidey's right go up to the highest bidder, then, while we would all like to think that Marvel is the webslinger's natural home - but they could well be outbid by another studio.

Or Disney could buy the rights to Spider Man, that would be the next best thing. No one has more money than Disney. If they think they'll profit by giving Marvel access to Spidey, they'll spend the dough. It would be peanuts compared to what they spent getting their hands on Star Wars.