I kind of don't blame Sony for wanting to take another crack at the character for a while, maybe the McGuire or Garfield versions specifically so that there will be less confusion. ("Less": Dr. Evil fingerquotes.)
But earning millions of dollars straight profit for doing LITERALLY NOTHING except owning the legal right to give permission to use the characters? How much of a no brainer is that? If there's a strong and coherent artistic vision that would be one thing, but I've seen nothing to indicate Sony execs have that in mind (even to exploit it), and that can only leave the other rationale: gambling their money on making even more money than they could make by doing nothing.
