The thing I think that Sony is overlooking (or maybe they just don’t care and figure they don’t need the assist) is the fact that a large (I’m not sure how large, but it has to be a decent size IMO) contingent of people see these MCU flicks because of their connection as a part of the entire MCU. No one was necessarily checking for Dr. Strange, my wife didn’t even like the movie and wasn’t super interested in seeing it in the first place, but because it’s a part of the saga that is the MCU as a whole, it was a “must see.” You don’t read books and skip random chapters, especially knowing that each chapter builds upon the previous. Spider-Man will ALWAYS make money IMO, and if this deal does indeed dissolve, the next one might make numbers in the range of Far From Home, but with each succeeding flick without the MCU connection, the returns will diminish IMO. They might be good movies (I’d hope so, but IMO the MCU blueprint makes them superior), but as fans realize it, they’d lose a percentage of people that show up with the mentality mainly of “let’s see where the MCU is heading now.” I’ll always show up, and many will also show up, but Sony is trippin’ if they don’t acknowledge that there are people (again, who knows how many) that are pushed over the edge, and some that show up only because of, the narrative connection to Disney’s MCU.
