10 Movies That Led To Other Movies Being Cancelled (And Why)
2. The Amazing Spider-Man 2's Failure Sees The Sinister Six Abandoned
With two failed Spider-Man franchises already under their belts, it made a lot of sense for Sony to allow Marvel Studios to incorporate the iconic web-slinger into the MCU under the terms of a character-sharing agreement, which still allowed them a hefty slice of the profits.
Sony's time in charge of Spider-Man was marked by studio interference, which initially caused Sam Raimi to walk away from making a fourth movie, and ultimately saw the rebooted Andrew Garfield-starring series collapse as the studio overstuffed the plot of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 with one eye on building a cinematic universe of their own.
By this point, Drew Goddard has already been hired to write and direct the Sinister Six, with the groundwork already having been laid for the all-villain team after the introduction of Paul Giamatti's Rhino, Dane DeHaan's Green Goblin, Jamie Foxx's Electro, Chris Cooper's Norman Osborn and background Easter Eggs that displayed the signature equipment of Vulture and Doctor Octopus.
Despite having a 2016 release date, The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and the Sinister Six spinoff were both canceled by the studio after the disappointing critical and commercial reactions to the second installment, which led directly to negotiations with Kevin Feige and his team.