By now, you may have heard that Sony and Marvel Studios are breaking up over the financial arrangement to continue to collaborate and produce Spider-Man films. Fan reaction was swift, as many were putting the blame on Sony for not agreeing to Disney’s new terms – after all, Sony was the one who came to Marvel and Marvel was the one who helped re-establish Spidey’s cinematic reputation. However, there were those who sided with Sony, citing that Disney’s request comes off as greedy. Whatever the case, Spidey’s presence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe may be coming to an end.

As we wait to hear more about the fallout between the two, Sony is attempting to come out of this ahead by placing the blame on Disney and calling the break-up “disappointing.” More on the report below.

THR was able to obtain a statement from Sony who spoke about ending the relationship with Marvel Studios. Here’s what a studio had to say via their Twitter account:

The statement appears to try to make Sony out to be the victim of Disney’s greed and perceived monopolization. It has been previously reported that Disney wanted 50/50 co-financing arrangement between the studios and that the offer could be extended to other spinoffs. Sony countered by proposing that they keep the arrangement going under the current terms where Marvel receives in the range of 5% of first-dollar gross. Both sides rejected the offer, and as such, they parted ways.

Sony was within its right to turn down the 50/50 co-financing arrangement. However, it’s not like The Amazing Spider-Man films were making bank. Sure, the films were able to gross $1.4 billion, but on a $480 million budget. And when you factor in marketing costs, it turns out that the franchise made even less money. Furthermore, Sony got too ambitious and tried to replicate Marvel Studios’ success by announcing numerous titles were going into development for their own shared universe.

And honestly, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is more of lightning in a bottle that comes from a creative team of writers, directors, and producers who had a deep respect for the source material and were smart enough to use Miles Morales instead of just re-treading the same old Peter Parker story.

While I was optimistic that cooler heads would prevail and the two would eventually come back to the table to renegotiate the deal, the aforementioned statement from Sony’s Twitter account suggests that it won’t be happening.

[Source: THR | Sony Pictures Twitter]