After a long wait, five of the Spider-Man films will be coming to Disney+ in the UK and Ireland on June 17.
The films launching on the platform will be Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) and Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) – and fans are delighted.
And while there are still a few movies missing – namely the last two and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 – this doesn’t mean they won’t be joining the platform too. While sharing the news Disney+ said that these “Will be the First Spider-Man™ Films to Launch on Disney+”, suggesting this isn’t the last of the franchise subscribers can look forward to.
It’s taken a while for the films to come to Disney+ because Sony, rather than Disney or Marvel Studios, owns the rights to the Spider-Man franchise.
However, in April 2021 Sony and Disney+ made a deal that would see titles from Sony Pictures’ film and television library dropping on Disney+.
The agreement meant that for the first time ever, the complete Marvel Cinematic Universe (apart from The Incredible Hulk) would (eventually) all be in one place.
The deal was set to start with Sony’s 2022 release slate and will continue up to 2026 – which wouldn’t then necessarily include older films.
Further details of the deal reported by Digital Spy said that the new Sony-released films will first run on Netflix before arriving on Disney+, and that the agreement was US-based, meaning that UK audiences could not project what this could mean for their future access to the Sony catalogue.
This has made the surprise news that Spider-Man will be coming to Disney+ in Britain all the more exciting. (Standard)