Tom Brevoort on Tumblr just came out and said that FF is getting renumbered as a new volume.
Of course Marvel is going to deny this. They haven't even properly announced the TPB that Hatchette accidentally leaked out..
And keep in mind that Sony held onto Spider-Man until the last second before rebooting as well. If Sony didn't sell the merch rights back to Marvel, we wouldn't see Spider-Man merch either. It isn't that Marvel hates Fox but loves Sony.
It's much more complex than just that. Sony didn't just give up the merchandising rights, they also gave up television rights and other interests they had in the Spider-Man IP. Asides from the film rights Disney and Marvel have complete control over the Spider-Man IP. On top of Spidey being extremely lucrative across all platforms, it's why Disney has been fully embracing towards the character, even though we aren't going to see a Marvel Studios Spider-Man anytime soon.
With X-Men and Fantastic Four on the other hand, 20th Century Fox still gets a cut of the merchandising they have live-action television rights, at the very least distribution rights to any Fantastic Four animated television show, and I think they also have interests in other aspects of those IPs. Unlike Spider-Man, Disney and Marvel don't have full control of those properties and it's why they're using X-Men in such a limited fashion and why the Fantastic Four are now completely shunned.
But there are reports coming out now that Issac Perlmutter, who is Disney's largest shareholder and CEO of Marvel, is taking 20th Century Fox's refusal to even budge on the rights of either property rather personally. While shunning the X-Men completely would affect Marvel's bottom line, shunning the Fantastic Four isn't going to hurt Marvel much because it's not a top selling comic and characters like the Thing, Dr. Doom, and Human Torch are no Wolverine, Storm, and Magneto. It does look like to a certain degree of Marvel disliking 20th Century Fox.
It's that Sony had to cut a deal to avoid bankruptcy.
Sony is not in the danger of bankruptcy. While they do need to take drastic cost cutting measures, bankruptcy isn't likely to happen.
That said, If this film flops then I expect Fox to sell the rights back since they will have proven that they can't make a film that audiences want to see.
Even if the film flops, I don't see 20th Century Fox selling the rights back. They'll probably treat it the way they treated Daredevil and hold them until the very last minute, even if they have no intention of making a film.
I also feel that Sony should sell Spider-Man back to Marvel since they've proven over the past decade that they have no idea what they're doing. Plus I don't see a wide audience for Sinister Six. Its a niche film that requires a massive budget and if Sony can't renegotiate Garfield's contract to have him appear in it, then it'll be hard to root for a anyone. If Garfield does appear, then it's a film about bad guys hunting a good guy when nobody wants to root for the bad guys doing bad things. And if Sinister Six does fail, then the brand will be so tarnished that nobody will want to see a Spider-Man movie for a good long time and Sony should just sell the rights back since it isn't worth holding on to the rights of something that you can't turn a profit with.
Yeah, I think it's gotten to the point where it would be more beneficial for Sony to just sell the film rights to Disney/Marvel. The films are getting more and more expensive for Sony to make while they are getting less and less from them in the box office. It would probably be in Sony's best interest to just sell the rights to Spider-Man in an Indiana Jones type deal where they get a cut of the box office revenues in future films in return for letting the rights return to the Marvel fold.
And yes. I am implying that Fox hurt Fantastic Four just as much. The reboot is a big gamble and if it's as bad as Sony's, then Fox + FF will = box office poison.
It's not that big of a gamble if the rumors of the film being on a tight budget are true.
