The landscape of the film industry is changing in some major ways. This December brought the massive news that Disney had purchased the entertainment divisions of 20th Century Fox, which will seriously increase the House of Mouse’s already sizeable hold on Hollywood. Now, it seems that another big studio has decided to put itself up for auction and it has people wondering if Disney might add yet another jewel to its crown.
The Wrap is reporting that speculation is rife about Sony Pictures going up for sale. The rumours have bubbled up following the shock exit of Kazuo Hirai as CEO of the company. The thinking goes that Hirai was actually jumping ship before the studio goes up for grabs.
If this is the case, though, it would be very unexpected, as Sony is actually doing pretty well right now. As the site points out, the Spider-Man franchise is back on track, with Marvel’s Homecoming proving a success last summer and spinoffs like Venom and Into the Spider-Verse on the way. Likewise, Dwayne Johnson’s Jumanji: Welcome the Jungle is exceeding all expectations. In fact, Sony themselves were in the running to snap up Fox before Disney clinched the deal.
Now that Sony Pictures is the one allegedly up for sale though, Disney is the prime suspect to hoover up the company. If they did, this would mean that the entirety of the Spider-Man package would be back at Marvel Studios, leaving the fate of Sony’s upcoming spinoff universe in question.
Of course, the most exciting thing here is that a Disney-owned Sony would mean the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be pretty much complete, considering the Fox deal already gave them the X-Men and Fantastic Four. The only hurdle to getting every Marvel character back in one place, should Sony fold, too, would be Universal’s claims to heroes such as Hulk and Namor.
Again, though, this is just speculation for now and neither studio has officially commented on it just yet. Still, it’s certainly interesting to think about and we’ll be sure to let you know if and when any further details come to light.