spider-man 4

After butting heads over Spider-Man 4 for what seems like the better part of the last month, Sony/Columbia Pictures and director Sam Raimi have parted ways on the project. The shift is so dynamic that the Spider-Man 4 movie has been canceled altogether in favor of a wholesale reboot of the entire franchise.

From Sony's official press release: "Peter Parker is going back to high school when the next Spider-Man hits theaters in the summer of 2012. Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios announced today they are moving forward with a film based on a script by James Vanderbilt that focuses on a teenager grappling with both contemporary human problems and amazing super-human crises. The new chapter in the Spider-Man franchise produced by Columbia, Marvel Studios and Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin, will have a new cast and filmmaking team."

Not long ago, Chud reported that Sony wasn't keen on the Vulture as the main threat for Spider-Man 4, but, today, Harry Knowles' sources at AICN told him the disagreements between Raimi and the studio may have had something to do with a storyline that would've seen Peter Parker and Mary Jane having a baby together. It certainly makes Peter and MJ a very adult couple, which, based on Sony's desire to kick Parker all the way back into his high school years, is not the direction Sony wanted to go at all. In Hollywood, teens are the epitome of sexy; parents, not so much.

With the news about Spider-Man 4 no longer moving ahead, what's Paramount to do? Promote another superhero, of course.

Variety reports that Spider -Man's loss is Thor's gain.

Thor was previously set to open May 20, 2011. The plagued production of Sony's Spider-Man 4 left a gap in the May 2011 release schedule. Disney quickly changed the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides into that slot, neatly filling the blockbuster gap. Pirates 4 didn't have a release date set before yesterday. Paramount has also taken advantage of the gap by moving Thor up by two weeks.

Two weeks may not seem like much, but it can make a huge difference in box office draw when there are competing blockbusters, particularly in the summer. With Pirates being an established franchise, and Paramount's Thor being untested, any foothold Thor gains before taking on Captain Jack Sparrow is unlikely to be wasted.

Okay, so you're Spider-Man. You can shoot webbing out of your wrists and climb up walls and lift cars over your head. You've overcome countless obstacles, ranging from turbulent relationships to man with robot octopus arms sprouting out of his back trying to end you. You're one of the most popular icons in popular culture, everyone knows who you are what you can do and the three movies based on your exploits have grossed the GDP of an Eastern European country.

What malevolent force can stop you? What sort of evil can put an end to the amazing Spider-Man?

Looks like the answer is creative bickering between the studio honchos at Sony and director Sam Raimi, whose ongoing bickering over the content of the fourth installment of the series has finally forced the Spidey train to a screeching halt. It all seems kind of silly, really. Raimi wants the villain of part four to be the classic, although admittedly kinda' goofy, Vulture. Sony wants it to be anyone else. Raimi obviously does not want to repeat the behind-the-scenes problems of Spider-Man 3, where he was forced to shoehorn a villain he didn't like (the ever-boring Venom) into his movie. Meanwhile, Sony looks at the box office receipts for Spider-Man 3 and tells Raimi to shut up and get in line because THEY AND ONLY THEY KNOW WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT. Neither intend to budge and there you have it. Spider-Man 4 looks unlikely to hit its release date of May 11, 2011. It may even signal that the series itself is on dying legs.

This one should be taken with a grain of salt folks, especially with Rachel McAdams now denying those previous rumors about her being courted for The Black Cat in Spider-Man 4. But Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily is reporting that Anne Hathaway has been approached to star in the forthcoming Spidey flick.

In the news brief, Finke verifies the following: that Hathaway has been sought for a lead role and that she will not be replacing Kirsten Dunst. Since we already know Bryce Dallas Howard is on board as Gwen Stacy and hence, will also not be replaced, it would seem that all signs point to Black Cat for Hathaway.

Frankly, I think it's perfect casting, if the rumor is indeed true. Finke is usually pretty on the ball with all things industry related, so there's no reason to doubt the credibility of the reporting or Finke's anonymous sources. It's more a matter of "let's not get all excited" in case Hathaway does not pan out. After the blind-siding travesty that was Spider-Man 3, the next installment sort of needs to have everything going for it and Hathaway would certainly be one more count for the win column, but let me re-stress -- Finke says Hathaway has only been approached by Sony, not cast, so treat the news appropriately.

She's a comic book cat burglar in a skin tight black cat suit. She straddles a fine, dark line between heroism and self-serving villainy. She has an on-again, off-again sexually-charged relationship with a costumed hero, that often gets in the way of his crimefighting.

Sound familiar? It will be interesting to see how director Sam Raimi plans on making Marvel's Black Cat stand-out from DC's Catwoman, if the rumors on Comics2Film are to be believed. Seems actress Rachel McAdams has had some closed-door meetings with Spider-Man 4 producers for the role of Felicia Hardy aka The Black Cat. Presumably, the character would provide a new love triangle for Peter Parker, with Black Cat's intense attraction to Spider-Man complicating things between Peter and Mary Jane.

There's been some scuttlebutt on the net that Spider-Man 4 would feature The Lizard as the primary villain. Comics2Film casts some doubt on that, by stating that the production is in the casting stages for the lead villain role. This would seem to discount The Lizard, whose alter-ego Dr. Curt Connors (played by Dylan Baker) has already appeared in the previous Spider-Man films as Peter Parker's college professor.

Will Dylan Baker finally have a chance to play the Lizard in Spider-Man 4? Looks that way, as during a Q&A for the new horror flick Trick 'R Treat in New York City the other night, Baker said that he'd just gotten a call regarding Spider-Man 4 and that he's definitely onboard for the fourth installment. Of course, considering the fact that Baker played the unassuming Dr. Curt Connors in Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3, there's a chance he'll be playing the same boring, no-nothing role for a third time. But since this will most likely be the last film for Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst -- thereby making it the last film within this particular Spider-Man universe -- then I can't see why they wouldn't finally move forward with Baker as the Lizard.

Fans of Spider-Man will know that Baker's Connors character does eventually become the Lizard, and Raimi has been itching to have Baker make the transformation since he introduced the character in Spider-Man 2. Since then Connors has acted as a sort of mentor for Peter Parker, so it makes sense that for this fourth installment Spider-Man would go up against a villain that he really does care about -- one who's tied to him emotionally. It would also bring that particular story arc within Raimi's franchise full circle, tie up all the loose ends, and let everyone walk away from the series without feeling like they left something out.

Sounds like a plan to me -- what do you think?

[via UGO]

Looks like Columbia Pictures is still interested in moving forward with a Venom spin-off movie, as Variety reports that Gary Ross (Seabiscuit, Pleasantville) is in talks to rewrite and direct the movie. Ross, for those not aware, was the one the studio hired to re-write the latest draft of Spider-Man 4, due to begin production early next year with Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire and Kristen Dunst all back for another (their last?) go-round.

Apparently the studio was so happy with the work Ross did on Spidey that they're now interested in having the guy rewrite and direct Venom, which we assume will follow the trials and tribulations of that black gooey alien entity that, when applied to a human's skin, turns them into either a vicious and violent monster or a fan of all things emo (or both!). The fact that Ross will be working on both Spidey 4 and Venom leads me to believe there might be some cross-over between the two, as that's all the rage right now and studios know how excited fans get when a character shows up in a movie he's not supposed to be in.

That being said, I still think this film is a bad idea. I don't think Venom is an appealing enough character to base an entire movie around, and that's mainly because his character was botched big time in Spider-Man 3. Could they turn it around? Perhaps. They could turn Venom into a sort of anti-hero, and have him (it?) do things like growl and screech -- but if he's not fighting Spider-Man, then who really cares? Needless to say I'm not putting this high up on my anticipation meter.

What do you think? Am I wrong? Is there enough here for a Venom spin-off movie? Would you see it?

(Looks like Sony finally found a way to weave that much-discussed two-film arc for Spider-Man, which was a story Cinematical first broke wayyy back in May of 2008. Here's Elisabeth Rappe reporting)

The Spider-Man franchise might just be heading down the road for a divorce from Sam Raimi and all his players, if I'm interpreting Variety and its sources right. Sony has "quietly" hired screenwriter James Vanderbilt to pen the fifth and sixth installments of the web-slinger franchise. Nothing wrong with that at all, of course. Vanderbilt has good work to his name, and a superhero franchise could do a lot worse than hiring the Zodiac screenwriter. However, Raimi didn't care for Vanderbilt's take and replaced him with David Lindsay-Abaire. He's currently having Gary Ross rewrite that script. However, Sony / Columbia and Marvel Studios loved Vanderbilt's ideas, in part because they form a big, interconnected storyline. (I can see Marvel all over that, can't you?) In fact, that was the original plan for Spidey films 4 and 5 which were to be shot back to back, but the idea was scrapped.

But here's where things could get really ugly. Raimi, Tobey Maguire, and Kirsten Dunst are reportedly not signed to installments 5 and 6, and with Raimi boarding World of Warcraft, the studio is even more uncertain that he'll return. So Vanderbilt's scripts are being eyed not as sequels but as a blueprint for a franchise "reboot." Obviously, there's no further details on what that would mean beyond a new cast and crew.

Read the rest at Cinematical

Welcome to Captain's Log -- your (semi) daily round-up of sci-fi randomness from around the web. Here's what's happening today:

- Make fun all you want, but I'm a big fan of the Gary Ross film Pleasantville. So I'm happy to hear that Ross, who is also working on The Creature from the Black Lagoon, is re-writing Spider-Man 4 for Sam Raimi. Of course, the script has reportedly been re-worked more times than we'd like to admit. Hopefully Spidey 4 won't end up playing like three or four different movies shoehorned into one.

- More superhero movie news: EW tells us that Cameron Diaz is in talks to play the female lead, opposite Seth Rogen, in The Green Hornet.

- The recent premiere of Syfy's Warehouse 13 drew more viewers than the Battlestar Galactica finale. Check out our review of the premiere.

More sci-fi awesomeness after the jump.

By: William Goss

Alright, let's get the Twilight out of the way first. Entertainment Weekly has a couple of new images from the set of New Moon, and if anything, I suppose it's small solace that director Chris Weitz looks like he has this shoot on schedule for a November 20th release. For those of us who didn't know, this sequel concerns Bella (Kristen Stewart) and her divided love for both vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson - SQUEE!) and werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner). Maybe Kate Beckinsale should give her some advice on how to handle this...

Now, in somewhat related news, the rumor du jour as to which villain will play a part in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4 has turned to Morbius, the well-meaning scientist (natch) who unwittingly transforms himself into a psuedo-vampire (no, thank you, Wikipedia!). The notorious showman plays coy when asked in this FearNET interview (that's hosted on... CHUD?), but then goes on about the appeal of vampires in a way that doesn't rule the possibility out...

Spider-Man 4 is scheduled for a 2011 bow, so let me use this as yet another opportunity to nudge you to support Raimi's very fun Drag Me to Hell this weekend.