Sony Pictures Announces Animated Spider-Man Movie for 2018

[P-89 Scorpion]

It boggles the mind that Sony would prefer to lose money on a franchise than let the rights revert.

Sony have never lost money on the Spiderman films, the Spiderman films are what have kept Sony pictures going.

ASM2 was profitable it just was not as profitable as Sony want's.

 

[Kameburger]

I actually think this is a good idea to be honest. It's stupid to have two competing live action franchises and while Sony retains the rights, it's likely that marvel will have a large say in the creative aspects of any film connected to its universe and I'm betting that was a pre-requisite for marvel agreeing to work with the character in the first place. On the other hand, an animated franchise could prove to be a popular proposition for kids, let them have exposure for kids and and let them cross promote with marvel while keeping their distance at the same time. From a business perspective I don't see the downside. As a fan as well, I really like the ASM comics, so I'd be happy to see some of the stories told in an animated format.

My question is will they have any of the current comic creative team help out and will it be an origin story? The movie opted out of the origin story so here's hoping that we're not gonna see another stupid retelling of the same event again.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Sony have never lost money on the Spiderman films, the Spiderman films are what have kept Sony pictures going.

Perhaps not directly, the studio itself isn't doing very well. If they were banking on ASM to save them, then they chose poorly.

 

[Kahani]

Seems pretty sensible really. Take some of the cut from Marvel's use of Spiderman in their live action films, while making Sony's solo films animated to avoid any conflict and audience confusion between the two. Sony win by getting free money from Marvel while keeping the rights and potentially their own profits from animated films, Marvel win by getting to use Spiderman in the MCU, and audiences win by getting Spiderman in the MCU and some animated films that at the very least can't be any worse than the last few live action films. With the added bonus of having people involved who actually seem to know what they're doing with fun animated films. Best case scenario, everyone wins. Worst case scenario, the animated films are shit and everyone except Sony wins.

 

[shirkbot]

I've always thought that the cartoon versions of Spider-Man were much more faithful, fun, and accurate to the character than the live action ones. I think this is the right move.

To be fair, all superhero movies are basically cartoons anyway, so this isn't all that different. That said, I'm an animation nerd and am super stoked to see more animated things in the world.

 

[Mortuorum]

Speaking personally, I'm not really sure what Sony Pictures hopes to accomplish with this.

My guess? They're planning to torpedo the live (Sony-produced) films completely. They'll need the animated films because - if they don't use the license - they lose it and the rights revert to Marvel.

The film, which is currently slated to hit cinemas on July 20th, 2018 will be produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Moviegoers may remember the duo from their work on The LEGO Movie...

As others have pointed out, animated superhero films tend to more faithful to the source material. There are a lot of reasons for this, but my theory is that the biggest reason is that superhero films fall into the Hollywood "blockbuster" bucket. The directors picked by the studios for blockbusters generally have huge egos and believe they are a lot more creative and talented than they actually are. As a result, they absolutely believe they can "improve" on the source material by shitting all over it. The latest Spider-Man movies are an excellent example of this, but also see Michael Bay's Transformers, Man of Steel, every Fantastic Four film ever made, etc.

Animated films, on the other hand, typically have directors who are (a) more humble; and (b) more likely to have a personal connection to the comics. While animated films have more modest budgets, they aren't as limited by technology and the laws of physics as live-action films and can have incredibly elaborate set pieces that would be prohibitively expensive for a live-action film.

Getting back OT, The Lego Movie was brilliant. My guess is that Lord and Miller approached Sony about this project. Sony may be run by idiots (evidence suggests this is the case, anyways), but even an idiot can see that this looks like a home run. Why wouldn't they approve a proposal like that?

 

[FPLOON]

Well, if it's going to be animated, why not hire that one dude from Superhero Movie to voice Spider-Man... What was his name again? "Drake Bell" or some shit like that?

But seriously, as long as J.K. Simmons is voiced JJ Jameson, it can't end up too bad of an animated movie... I mean, the producers from The LEGO Movie are on board, so that's already leeway for the movie to be no less than "slightly above average" at best...

 

[flying_whimsy]

I've been saying for a while now that DC should be doing this with their movies: it's a niche that has not been getting filled except by straight to video releases. DC is by far stronger when it comes to animated features. Marvel is...less than successful by comparison.

I'm curious to see what Sony picks as its target audience for this movie. I suspect that'll be the make or break decision for that venture.

 

[ckam]

If it ain't continuing the story from Spectacular Spider-Man, then I don't think this is going to work out.

 

[truckspond]

As long as it doesn't turn out like Foodfight! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf85ZaAfixM] then it should be at least half decent.