With next year almost here, rumors emerged that Apple was negotiating with a major media company, with Netflix considered one of the company's likeliest potential acquisitions.
However, another company has shown a certain prestige in cinema and reflected it in the growth of its shares: Sony. This made it a strong candidate in the latest rumors about Apple's newest acquisition. It is worth remembering that after changing its leadership, the company achieved a strong return with the latest Venom film and the Spider-Man animated film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
However, if this purchase is completed, all rights to the Spider-Man cinematic universe belonging to Sony will automatically return to Marvel, because the contract contains a clause that must be fulfilled if Sony is bought by another company.
On Twitter, among the replies to blogger @DanielRPK's tweet about Apple's purchase of Sony, @IwanR0berts replied with the clause stating that the Spider-Man rights would be returned to Marvel if Sony were sold. In that case, Apple would not inherit any of the Marvel universe that still belongs to Sony.
Took me a while to find it but I went onto a old Sony Pictures Entertainment website and found A contract that specifies about characters owned by Columbia Pictures back in 1997, including James Bond, Men in Black and Spider-Man. pic.twitter.com/g65bLx2W99— Iwan Roberts 🏳️🌈 (@IwanR0berts) December 14, 2018
Remember that Spider-Man has recently been “lent” to Marvel/Disney films and, if the rumors really come true, Marvel would once again have all the character's rights. If they do not, analyst Jeff Bock says Sony could “bring” Tom Holland's character into its own universe after Spider-Man: Far From Home, due to the success of Venom.
