Sony Exec Talks SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING Title Meaning, Teases Tony Stark Involvement, Applauds Tom Holland
Someone must have learned a hard lesson in past super hero movie-related decision-making as Sony executive Tom Rothman is the guy who Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld publicly stated prevented Fox from green lighting DEADPOOL. Now, $781 million worldwide in box office grosses later, he was most definitely wrong as DEADPOOL became one of the most profitable movies ever made with its small $58M production budget.
"Tom Rothman single handedly kept Deadpool from getting made at Fox. Not a fan. Scratches Sony off the list...., "Liefeld wrote on February 24, 2015.
Now, Rothman is heading up Sony Pictures and he's been saying smart things when it comes to their Spider-Man franchise. (Read: He's letting Marvel Studios handle the character the right way.)
On the red carpet for the premiere of the GHOSTBUSTERS reboot, IGN spoke with Rothman about SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING and while the exec didn't reveal many details he did confirm the double-entendre of the movie's title. [Quotes transcribed by ComicBook.]
"It's relevant to the story because it takes place in high school and there is a scene -- that I guess I can give a little thing -- at a homecoming dance. I've actually seen the dailies of it because we already did the high school shooting of it in the first couple weeks. It's fantastic! But it's also a homecoming to Marvel. And a homecoming to the cinematic universe that Spider-Man belongs in. So it's a pretty unprecedented deal between two studios, but we're really proud of it. And all I can tell you is, those guys at Marvel -- I think the technical term is -- they know their sh-t."
On Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man:
"He's fantastic! This is it. This is that character in all of its youthful complications and 'I have to save the world and get my chemistry homework done.'"
On Having Robert Downey Jr. in the Film as Tony Stark / Iron Man:
"It's very important. It's wonderful commercially, but that's not why. You can see the beginnings of the relationship that was established in Civil War, so it was very important from a character part of the story, and I think fans will really be rewarded by the character growth between them."
Rothman has to live with the stigma of being the person who prevented DEADPOOL from moving forward for years, but at least he's still saying all the right things about your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
"Here's the thing I can tell you: We're really, really fortunate on this because Marvel and Kevin Feige have really embraced the character, and nobody knows it as well as Marvel. It is another crown jewel of Sony's for sure."
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING is filming at Pinewood Studios in Atlanta and releases on July 7, 2017.
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