Which Property Will Marvel Regain The Film Rights?

[Trek4Ever]

Back when Marvel was bankrupt, they sold the film rights to its hottest properties to different film studios, which is why Spider-Man is at Sony, X-Men with Fox and so on. Ever since the first Iron Man came out, Marvel has been systematically regaining the rights to its characters like Daredevil and Ghost Rider.

The last properties Marvel Studios cannot do are Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. Will a time come when Marvel will regain any of these rights and which ones? Of course, it may not matter to most people as long as the movies based on those characters are good.

But with the negative buzz the FF reboot is getting and the tired state of Sony's Spider-Man and the success of Marvel Studios there is an undeniable groundswell for Marvel to regain those film rights. Of course Sony and Fox aren't idiots and won't sell back the rights but is there any chance at all?

 

[sojourner]

Sony and Fox could care less if there is a "groundswell". As long as they can fulfill the contractual obligations they can keep the rights. Which is why we got the Roger Corman FF back in the 90's.

 

[Kelthaz]

Never going to happen. The amount of money that Marvel would have to offer to get back Spider-Man or the X-Men would exceed the GDP of most countries.

 

[Skywalker]

I do think that if Sony continues down their current path, they'll continue to experience diminishing returns and wear the property out, and Disney/Marvel will be able to make an offer.

I don't see Fox giving up the X-Men any time soon (which is fine by me, I like having the X-Men in their own universe), but if Trank's Fantastic Four movie bombs, maybe they'll give up on that property.

 

[Pingfah]

Interesting, I did not know any of this.

I will say though, that all the Spider-man, X-Men and Fantastic Four movies were pretty boring to me, they all just seem to lack a spark. On the other hand, Iron Man, Avengers and the related movies have been far superior, much smarter, snappier and funnier.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Isn't Namor the Submariner still at Universal? If so, I could see Marvel reaquiring that as Universal doesn't seem inclined to do anything with it.

 

[sojourner]

I thought Namor was in the next FF movie?

 

[Greg Cox]

Sony and Fox could care less if there is a "groundswell". As long as they can fulfill the contractual obligations they can keep the rights. Which is why we got the Roger Corman FF back in the 90's.

I'm inclined to agree. The latest Spidey and X-Men movies each made over $200 million domestically. Why on Earth would Sony or Fox want to give Marvel back the rights if they don't have to?

And let's not write the new FF movie off, sight unseen, just because of the usual hand-wringing on the internet. Remember, it wasn't all that long ago that lots of folks were arguing strenuously that GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY was going to be Marvel's first big flop, that the original comics were too weird or too obscure for general audiences, that nobody in the world wanted a Rocket Racoon movie, etc. Heck, I remember people predicting that Sam Raimi's first Spider-Man movie was going to flop because (gasp!) organic webshooters!

We haven't even seen a second of footage from the new FF movie. For all we know, it could do perfectly well at the box office.

 

[sojourner]

There have been possible pics of Dr. Doom leaked. I'm not thrilled. Looks worse than the last Dr. Doom portrayal.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Ew. That last one looks like he's just hung himself!

 

[sojourner]

<Blazing Saddles>
"They said you was hung!"

"And they was right!"
</Blazing Saddles>

 

[Gaith]

But with the negative buzz the FF reboot is getting and the tired state of Sony's Spider-Man and the success of Marvel Studios there is an undeniable groundswell for Marvel to regain those film rights.

A few nerds griping online does not a groundswell make, undeniable or otherwise.

​

 

[Ethros]

Kevin Feige said a while ago although it's complicated, Marvel does hold the ultimate rights to Namor
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/...-sub-mariner-film-rights.html#~oOj9DHoL3o5Vky

 

[the G-man]

There have been possible pics of Dr. Doom leaked. I'm not thrilled. Looks worse than the last Dr. Doom portrayal.

They keep making decisions like this and marvel will get the right back.

 

[bbjeg]

I agree, that Doom looks like crap.

 

[Captaindemotion]

A point worth remembering is that Marvel studios can only make so many movies a year. If they owned FF, Spidey and X-Men, then in order to make films of them, they'd have to forgo something else in the current MCU.

So while it would be nice to see Spider-man or Wolverine hang out with the Avengers, it might mean, for example, we wouldn't have gotten a GOTG movie, as losing some of its biggest names has meant that Marvel has had to be a little more imaginative and less obvious in how it uses its back catalogue for the big screen.

 

[Takeru]

I hope they don't regain the rights to Spider-Man and X-men, if they had them we wouldn't gave gotten most of the MCU we have, at best it would have been a standalone Avengers movie in addition to Marvel's Spider-Man and X-Men.

I also agree that the X-men are better off in their own universe, Spidey would work in the MCU but I like him having solo adventures more than him being part of a team.

Basically X-Men and Spider-man being at other studios means more Marvel stuff makes it to the big screen, that's a good thing imo.

 

[AvBaur]

If the new FF film is a huge flop, I could see Fox letting the rights go. X-Men and Spider-Man otoh would probably need a number of big flops in a row for the studios to ever consider giving them back to Marvel. I don't see that happening anytime soon.

 

[TemporalFlux]

Trank's Fantastic Four is going to bomb; and I believe you'll see Fox let the rights run out like they did on Daredevil. It's not going to be a willing handover; they'll make Marvel wait through the entire time (which if Daredevil is an indication, Marvel could be left waiting ten years).

 

[Set Harth]

I so want to see Wolverine in an Avengers film even though I know it's not going to happen.