Talks between Sony and Disney over their deal to collaborate on the “Spider-Man” films, as well as include the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, broke down when Disney asked for 50% of the profits, a significant increase from the previous 5%. Sony did not want that and instead wanted to keep the old arrangement, but Disney refused. After the news broke, people rushed to point fingers one way or the other. Did Sony walk away too easily? Did Disney get greedy in asking for more money? Perhaps it is best to look at why this is a problem in the first place, starting with copyright law.

When “Spider-Man” first came out in 1962, copyright only lasted 28 years, with the possibility of getting a 28-year extension before going into to the public domain. Under those rules (which date back to 1909) if “Spider-Man” got the extension, it would have entered the public domain in 2018, which it never did. The system was amended in the Copyright Act of 1976. Copyright was further extended in 1998 with the Copyright Term Extension Act (ironically dubbed, “The Mickey Mouse Protection Act”).

Many suggest the 1998 extension kept “Spider-Man” out of the public domain, when it was actually the 1976 Act that did, as its fixed 75-year copyright term would have expired in 2037. The 1998 extension did however exacerbate the problem, with a fixed 95-year term which would expire in 2057. This does not necessarily mean that the 1976 Act was a mistake, but one negative thing it did was give corporations much more control over characters and franchises it owns, regardless of how it managed to acquire them. 

It is also worth mentioning the sheer size of Disney. In addition to Marvel, they own Lucasfilm, ABC, ESPN, Pixar and many others. Obviously, Sony does not own nearly as much, but it has plenty of acquisitions itself, mainly in the video games industry. The issue of monopolies has come up a lot in regard to Disney over the past few years. Taking a pro-Sony stance due to Disney’s many acquisitions or, even more extreme, being glad about this, does not make sense.  If the backlash to splitting up popular franchises like the MCU becomes associated with efforts to decrease the scope of large corporations, then more impactful, and more sensible, solutions (breaking up big corporations like Disney, without splitting franchises) may become less popular.

In spite of all of these technicalities, arguing about which multi-billion-dollar corporation is at fault is just unnecessary. “Spider-Man: Far from Home” made over a billion dollars; 50% of that is not as much as 95%, but it would  still be a lot of money for Sony. Neither company is really hurting for cash. The real question here is which corporation, if any, will accept some losses so that Marvel fans who have been so loyal and committed to the franchise do not see their favorite team split up again. People who are trying to find a hero and a villain in this are going to be disappointed: the only heroes in this story are made up.

Image from IGN via YouTube