Is This Proof Marvel Studios and Sony Are Combining Universes?

Earlier this week, news surfaced suggesting Sony is planning on releasing another Marvel movie next October. Notching a release date just over a year after the release of Venom 2, it's entirely unlikely the new date is reserved for a threequel of the Tom Hardy-starring franchise. On top of that, it's far too early for a Morbius sequel as well — unless maybe, just maybe, the studio is feeling really good about the Jared Leto vehicle after a batch of initial test screenings. Better yet — as various fandoms have started to point out online — Disney also has a movie on the same date as Sony's new Marvel flick: October 8, 2021.

There's been some speculation, or conspiracy theorizing at least, led by ace scooper Charles Murphy saying this could potentially mean the Disney and Sony dates are one and the same. The speculation hubbub is the date Sony now has saved is actually the same date Walt Disney Studios previously had reserved for an "Untitled Disney Live Action" movie. Naturally, we've got to ask ourselves — is there any substance to these conspiracies? Could this be proof Sony's Universe of Marvel Characters is definitively set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

The quick and easy answer is no. No, this isn't proof the SUMC and MCU are on a collision course into forming a multiverse or the like. The thoughts are exactly what we previously described — they're nothing (at this point) but conspiracy theories and speculation.

Competing studios share dates all the time, it's the nature of the business. Let's take this weekend as an example — Paramount is releasing Sonic the Hedgehog while Fox Searchlight (Downhill) and Sony (Fantasy Island) each have wide releases. For that matter, Universal even has The Photograph set to drop this week as well.

There are instances, however, where a studio will move dates around — you know, to avoid competing with a billion-dollar blockbuster from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and that might be where things get complicated here. With the exception of Sonic, none of the movies we used in our example above are super huge blockbusters — at least not on the level of an event movie like Avengers or Star Wars.

At this point, we've yet to hear if Disney plans on keeping its October 8, 2021 date and as of yet, no movie has officially fallen into the slot. Looking at the release calendar, it doesn't take too long to recognize the date is a bit later in the year for a major summer tentpole. In fact, the studio has only had one October date in the last six years — Angelina Jolie's Maleficient sequel was released last October 18th before going on to make a relatively modest $491.7 million worldwide, when compared to Disney standards.

Judging by what we've seen in Venom and the teaser trailer for Morbius, Sony is continuing to producer superhero movies for older crowds and not stricter family-friendly audiences that are oftentimes associated with that movie. That means it's entirely possible the Sony and Disney dates are indeed separate with virtually no anticipated competition at the box office.

Morbius lands July 31st while Venom slithers into theaters October 2nd.

Do you think Sony's movies are slowly integrating themselves into the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Why or why not? Think it over and let us know your thoughts in the comments section!