Report: Tom Holland saved ‘Spider-Man’
©2019 CTMG, Inc. All rights reserved.(NEW YORK) — Weeks after the spat between Sony and Disney-Marvel left their Spider-Man partnership “100 percent dead” for a third film in the Tom Holland-fronted franchise — it was the 23-year-old actor who reportedly convinced the two studios to make up, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.
The sources say Holland “made multiple appeals” to Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger and Sony film chairman Tom Rothman to strike the September 27 deal for Marvel to collaborate on one more solo Spider-Man movie, and for the character to appear in at least one additional Disney-Marvel film.
Holland made a surprise appearance at Disney’s D23 Expo days after the Sony-Disney split to promote the animated movie Onward. At the end of the expo, the actor reportedly “leaned on” Rothman to reengage Disney, while simultaneously reaching out to Iger to return to the negotiating table.
The two sides softened their stances after Holland showed them the outpouring of fan support, sources tell THR.
The new deal is said to have something for everyone: Disney wins a “considerable stake” in a new movie, up from the less than five percent of the gross it received for each of the first two Spider-Man films.
Sony, in the meantime, gets the go-ahead for a third movie, and fans get a tidy end to the Spider-Man saga with Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige back at the helm.
Marvel is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
Copyright © 2019, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.