June 17th is a day that will forever be remembered as the day Sony’s Spider-Man films landed on Disney+. Many countries throughout Europe, Asia, as well as Australia and New Zealand were given the amazing surprise of Spider-Man movies. The entire situation has been handled quite peculiarly. No press release or proper announcements in any countries that we’ve been able to locate. No real promotion. Starting with Disney+ Japan, a bunch of official Disney+ Twitter and Instagram accounts simply announced the films a couple days before they arrived. Some countries did not even get an announcement, they just woke up on Friday to Spider-Man films.
The 1st Announcement
Those Left Behind
Not everyone got the Spider-Man films. Germany has been shut out entirely. Turkey is Spider-Man free. Latin America and Brazil were left out on June 17th, but their official Twitter hinted at their upcoming arrival in a 2nd wave.
Latin America Is Getting Spider-Man… Eventually
Perhaps most ironically, the United States is one of the countries with no Spider-Man movies. This is ironic because the United States actually had a deal to stream Spider-Man films first. Announced waaaay back in April 2021, an unprecedented deal with Sony Pictures promised to bring Sony film library and the Spider-Man movies onto Disney+ USA. People were very jealous outside the USA. Yet, here we are, a bit over a year later and a mysterious deal sprung up internationally bringing many countries films before USA has even received one.
More Questions Than Answers
Due to the strange silence by the Hollywood and entertainment trades, this international deal leaves in its wake many unanswered questions that even the best detectives have yet to uncover answer for thus far. We’ve reached out to an extremely informed and reliable insider at a major trade that offers pay-walled scoops who has agreed to look into it.
Questions Left Unanswered
- HOW did they pull this off? It had to be a major undertaking and lining up so many films in so many counties may have involved buying out some existing deals that Sony had already signed.
- Is this one overall “international deal” or multiple deals in different countries that were unified into one shared “launch day?” We know it’s separate from the original deal announced in USA as the coverage specified the deal was domestic only.
- Why did they not issue a press release and hype this massive gain ahead of time?
- How long will these films stream? 1 year? 5 years? 10 years? We can’t imagine this much effort for a deal that lasts shorter than 1 year. We hope it’s 5 or more.
- Will the films come and go or stream consistently?
- Are these deals exclusive or non-exclusive? Does it differ between countries? It seems that in the UK Amazing Spider-Man is available on Netflix simultaneously, so it remains unknown if moving forward these films will be exclusive to DIsney_ once the pre-existing deals end.
- When will other countries receive the Spider-Man films? Latin America and Brazil are getting them later, so will other recently launched territories get them at the same time? A Wave 2?
- Does this deal include future Spider-Man films, such as Madame Webb and Kraven?
- Did the pact include rights to the Spider-Man cartoons owned by Sony: Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (2003) and The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008)? Adding those to Disney+ would be quite the treat for many fans.
- What about future series in development? Remember, Prime Video had been in talks to stream Spider-Man original live action series produced by Sony. Hopefully Disney has managed to push them out. Spider-Man shows belong on Disney+ alongside the films. Continuity should not be split across streaming services.
- Perhaps most important to shareholders like myself, how much money did this cost? There is no way this was cheap because it spans the globe and it involves multiple films. Will Disney mention anything at the next earnings call in August?
When Will USA Get Spider-Man Films?
Sadly, we cannot answer that question with a date, but we can provide you the closest estimates currently available. To do so, we have to look at where these films are currently streaming and when those deals end. We track this information and have recently added the Spider-Man films to our Disney pre-existing contracts page. All data is available there as well.
| Title | Current Location | Date Leaving |
|---|---|---|
| Spider-Man (2002) | Peacock | July 1, 2022 |
| Spider-Man 2 (2004) | Peacock | July 1, 2022 |
| Spider-Man 3 (2007) | Peacock | July 1, 2022 |
| Amazing Spider-Man (2012) | Netflix | June 1, 2023 (Estimated) |
| Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) | Starz beginning July 4 | August 4, 2023 |
| Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) | Starz beginning July 1 | May 1, 2023 |
| Venom (2018) | Starz (Pay 2) | May 1, 2023 |
| Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018) | FX (Expected to go to Starz this fall) | July 1, 2022 |
| Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) | Starz (Pay 2) | July 1, 2023 (Estimated) |
| Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage (2021) | Starz (Pay 1) | February 1, 2024 (Estimated) |
| Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) | Starz beginning July 15 (Pay 1) | January 15, 2024 |
| Morbius (2022) | Netflix beginning August (Estimated) (Pay 1) | Fall 2023 (Estimated) |
It’s quite likely the first films to drop in USA will be the Raimi trilogy and Into The Spider-Verse. The rest are pretty heavily locked into Starz in what we believe to be exclusive deals. Amazing Spider-Man on Netflix may be non-exclusive because the film is also streaming on Netflix Canada and UK at the same time Disney+ got it. Overall, the prognosis for Spider-Man on Disney+ USA is not great. When it comes to “pre-existing deals” it never is. Sorry, folks. These companies all licensed their films out much further and deeper in the USA than overseas through output and library deals. We’re still digging out of that.
Midway through 2023 things are looking brighter. The cool thing is Disney could negotiate a byzantine deal with Starz and Sony to co-stream some of these films. It would require giving both companies money or trading films. It’s unlikely they’ll burn cash just to stream a handful of films but you never know.
As you can see, the USA has time to wait, but may get some of the films this year. Wouldn’t it be wild if films start leaving other countries before the USA even gets them?
Drew Ryan is a film, TV, and Disney geek. He has degrees in English, Student Personnel Administration, and Library & Information Science from Lawrence University, Concordia University-Wisconsin, and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Interested in the minutia and licensing of streaming service content, he is always publishing lists, suggestions, and advocating for Disney’s missing library to be added to Disney+. Drew subscribes to Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, HBO Max, and Paramount+. You can find him waxing nostalgic over classic Disney Channel or geeking out over Marvel, CW shows, & Disney on Twitter.
