Spider-Man 4‘s goose is cooked, but a new gosling is on the way to replace it.
Spider-Man 4 wasn’t just delayed, it turns out that the whole project is straight up canceled. Due to various factors, Sony and Columbia Pictures have decided to nix the fourth entry to reboot the franchise with Peter Parker back in high school.
After going through multiple screenwriters, Sam Raimi, director of the first three films, was very unhappy with the current status of the script and, according to a Deadline Hollywood source, said to Sony Pictures: “I can’t make your date. I can’t go forward creatively.” Hitting a summer release date while still keeping the film’s integrity was not something Raimi felt he could do. Rather than give Raimi the time he felt he needed, Sony and Columbia are going to try something completely different à la the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book reboot where Peter Parker went back to being a young whippersnapper. It looks like Sam Raimi is freed up to do the World of Warcraft movie after all.
Here’s what we know about the new project, as described by a 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. Spider-Man 4 was to have been released in 2011, but had not yet gone into production.
More info is expected in the coming weeks as production is prepared for the new picture. For now, rumors abound as to who will take over Spider-Man. James Cameron is one of the possible names being thrown around, due to the fact that he has already written a Spider-Man treatment. Sony and Columbia may also intend the new version of Spider-Man to be shown in 3D. According to Sony Pictures: “People are paying a premium to see movies in 3-D and that’s a very big deal. It’s never been done before that someone says you have to pay more to see Spider-Man than a romantic comedy.” Sony could be right, Avatar is in 3D and I hear it made a lot of money.
Source: Deadline Hollywood
