Published 19:26 IST, September 16th 2019
Joe Russo & his brother think the Sony-Marvel split is a huge mistake
Joe and Anthony Russo have recently said that they believe that Marvel's decision to bar Spider-Man's return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a huge mistake
Avengers: Endgame directors Joe Russo and brother Anthony Russo believe that the Marvel studio is making a huge mistake by preventing Spider-Man's return following the Marvel-Sony split. The director brothers recently disclosed the difficulties they faced while getting Sony on board with Tom Holland as a part of Captain America: Civil War. The brothers also revealed their plan to follow-up their biggest box office hit of all the time with a new studio, AGBO.
Discussing Spider-Man's inclusion into the MCU, Anthony Russo said, “It was so difficult to get him into Civil War. It was an extremely long and hard process. But we were driven to help make it happen. But Kevin Feige pulled it off, somehow. Disney and all the good people at Sony found a way to make it work and it lasted a few films. We had a wonderful experience with that and think audiences really appreciated that marriage."
"But we know how hard that marriage was to make in the first place, so the fact that marriage fell apart isn't really that surprising to me and Joe,” Anthony Russo added.
Russo brothers' journey with Marvel
Anthony Russo has also claimed that they feel very fortunate about the time they've spent with Marvel. While making Marvel movies they felt close to the global audience as they got to travel the world and meet people and engage with fans from all over the world. He said that they felt energized and really motivated to dig deeper on a global storytelling level.
Russo further added that at the new studio, AGBO that they are going to work with was founded with Avengers co-writer Stephen McFeely and launched at Toronto last week with Mosul which is a true-story war film about the operation that took the wartorn Iraqi city back from ISIS control.
Sony-MCU split
The Russo brothers directed Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War. While introducing Spider-Man to the MCU, Sony and Disney reached a deal in which Sony would allow Spider-Man to appear in the lucrative series and for Disney to retain all merchandising revenue. Sony and Disney broke off the relationship in August after the negotiations to extend the deal fell through.
Tom Holland will continue to play Peter Parker though the Spider-Man franchise will no longer be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Joe Russo said, "It was a tenuous, fraught union throughout the whole process. But, I will say, stepping back and trying to be objective as possible, that I think it's a tragic mistake on Sony's part to think that they can replicate Kevin's penchant for telling incredible stories and the amazing success he has had over the years. I think it's a big mistake."
Updated 21:09 IST, September 16th 2019