Deadline.com broke the story about director Sam Raimi and actor Tobey Maguire dropping out of Spider-Man 4. It seems we’re now getting a reboot and heading back to high school. The debate is heating up on our message board, feel free to join in. Here’s the press release from Sony.
Culver City, CA (January 11, 2010) — 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.
“A decade ago we set out on this journey with Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire and together we made three Spider-Man films that set a new bar for the genre. When we began, no one ever imagined that we would make history at the box-office and now we have a rare opportunity to make history once again with this franchise. Peter Parker as an ordinary young adult grappling with extraordinary powers has always been the foundation that has made this character so timeless and compelling for generations of fans. We’re very excited about the creative possibilities that come from returning to Peter’s roots and we look forward to working once again with Marvel Studios, Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin on this new beginning,” said Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
“Working on the Spider-Man movies was the experience of a lifetime for me. While we were looking forward to doing a fourth one together, the studio and Marvel have a unique opportunity to take the franchise in a new direction, and I know they will do a terrific job,” said Sam Raimi.
“We have had a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration and friendship with Sam and Tobey and they have given us their best for the better part of the last decade.This is a bittersweet moment for us because while it is hard to imagine Spider-Man in anyone else’s hands, I know that this was a day that was inevitable,” said Matt Tolmach, president of Columbia Pictures, who has served as the studio’s chief production executive since the beginning of the franchise. “Now everything begins anew, and that’s got us all tremendously excited about what comes next. Under the continuing supervision of Avi and Laura, we have a clear vision for the future of Spider-Man and can’t wait to share this exciting new direction with audiences in 2012.”
“Spider-Man will always be an important franchise for Sony Pictures and a fresh start like this is a responsibility that we all take very seriously,” said Michael Lynton, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures. “We have always believed that story comes first and story guides the direction of these films and as we move onto the next chapter, we will stay true to that principle and will do so with the highest respect for the source material and the fans and moviegoers who deserve nothing but the best when it comes to bringing these stories and characters to life on the big screen.”
The studio will have more news about Spider-Man in 2012 in the coming weeks as it prepares for production of the film.
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Sam Kerby: So Nostredamus said the world will end in 1999, some nuts said we’ll be retarded in technology in the year 2000. Don’t believe anyone saying when the world ends cause that is what nobody knows
Spider-Mont:
1. Spider-Man 2 at least did use Spider-Man smarts, organic web-shooters aren’t really a problem
2. Is it important? We can have Flash fair haired or not
3. OK, do her like she is in SSM cartoon, but without the geeky look
4. Or the same explosion like in “Chapter One” that infused the tentacles to Ock 😛
i’m sick of this reboot, retread, reimagine bull$%&#. i already have enough mediums involving peter parker still being in high school: ultimate, spectacular, and in a way, BND. All i hear out of these sony execs is money, money, money. If it works, hell yeah I’m down for it, but I’m just sick of treading over already worn out ground.
Was the Jimmy Kimmel live show with Tobey aired after or before this press release? Didn’t seem like he knew anything about it.
Finally! We can rectify so many mistakes…
1) Give me web shooters and attention to the fact Peter is SMART and not just a guy who climbs walls
2) Any chance Flash Thompson can be Blonde this time?
3) Give me some Gwen Stacy!!!
4) You now have the perfect way to make the Lizard the main villain – Dr. Connors was helping Norman Osborn with genetic testing and becomes the Lizard with the same stuff that gives Peter his powers (maybe like the Ultimate version of how Peter gets his powers)
I feel it’s too soon for a reboot but oh well. Maybe we’ll get web-shooters this time.
“OH MAN I CAN’T WAIT!!! MARVEL STUDIOS WORKING ON A SPIDER-MAN MOVIE AT LAST”
Nope, Sony’s still making it.
OH MAN I CAN’T WAIT!!! MARVEL STUDIOS WORKING ON A SPIDER-MAN MOVIE AT LAST
but I like my scuba gear spidey toys… is that so wrong? hahaha
2012 huh? Isn’t the world gonna end then? So we won’t see this anyways… d’oh
Oh well, I’m sure I’ll be there to see it on day one, damn addictions anyways.
Great. So now we’ll have a new Spider-man movie most likely with a director who won’t be as strict about what quality level script he’ll work with. Great. I got the feeling Sony is thinking the name Spider-man alone is what sells, not the quality, but that’s soooo not true. When the comics stink, people don’t buy em. When the cartoon stinks (Spider-man Unlimited) people don’t watch ’em. The quality Spidey stuff sells huge and should be easy enough to produce, cause he’s such a great character- but if they pump out some kinda crap, it’ll bomb just as much as Scuba gear Spider-man action figure would.
Here’s hoping they don’t screw it up…
If it’s done right, this could be great (re: Batman Begins or Incredible Hulk). However, I have serious doubts. After all, Spidey 1 was good (except for Goblin…too goofy), and Spidey 2 is STILL one of my favorite comic movies. 3 missed the mark, and was the one that the studio interfered with the most. Coincidence? I think not.
Also, @Yek, Tiny Toons was a great cartoon. I think you should’ve said Loonatiks Unleashed instead…*shudder*
Tiny Toons was awesome good sir.
I’m going out on a limb here and say I hope they can patch things up and still make 4 instead of a reboot.
Ugh, it will end up being the “Tiny Tunes” to the “Looney Tunes”. (other examples, the countless reboots of any number of shows, except insert “kid version”. Ugh.
After 3 that is…oooooppss..:(
Dammit…I think Raimi was looking for a redemption after 4…and this is just another BND in the wings….a 4th installment in Raimi’s capable hands and with Tobey’s performance could have been great….not to mention the phenomenal presence of John Malkovich as the Vulture..ah well..it will never be now:(
YES!
YES, YES, YES, YES, YES
Suceed or fail, it needed to be done. The Raimi era boxed intself into a corner and there was no recovery. Let’s hope the Spider-Man movies are done proper justice with a fresh perspective
Okay, it has now hit the AP wire… CBSNews, Newsweek and everyone is blabbering about it…okay, let’s see, what should I do now??? Oh wait, behind the milk is another “cold one”….mmmm…
@George… I believe in the old journalism adage, “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.” This is on a site called “deadline.com”. Never heard of it. Once I see it on an actual official Sony press location, then I will believe it fully. If true, not surprising Sam would pull out if there were creative differences.
If there is a reboot, then screw 2012, I would wait longer. This is too soon for most…
For Spider-Dad: Sony’s also confirmed it on their Facebook and Twitter pages.
http://www.facebook.com/SonySpotlight
http://twitter.com/sonyPictures
I love the first thre…. two films (three was okay) but a reboot is actually a good thing for the franchise.Like the Batman films of the late eighties and nineties once the god awful Batman and Robin came out nobody wanted another bat-film until Christopher Nolan made Batman Begins in 2005.That reboot helped the franchise stay true to the character’s dark origins.This will do some good for the webslinger,they can stay truer to the character’s origins and powers that were in the comics.I mean the 2002 film was supposed to have peter using web-shooters but they scrapped that for organic webbing which i’m not a fan of by the way.The should not focus a lot of time to the origin but to Spidey’s first battle with a supervillian, just like the first episode of Spectacular did in the first season.Give it a Batman ’89 approach.and give it a chance to incorporate the other superheroes like Iron man or thor like they did in Iron man and Incredible Hulk in ’08.Plus there is going to be reboots of Ghost Rider,Fantastic Four and Daredevil.THe Incredible Hulk was a reboot and the movie never focused on the origin of Hulk so that can work for spidey.Plus the irony is that it will be realesed(I know I spelled that wrong) exactly ten years since the first one came out.(man,that was long….sorry 😛
H4M – that poster you saw was fan-made.
Spider-Dad – that *is* the official press release from Sony.
this sucks
I didnt care much for spiderman 3, but it wasnt like it reached Batman & Robin levels of awfulness by any stretch of the imagination and even without tobey maguire or even sam raimi there is plenty of room to tell new stories using the spiderman universe that they created without having ANOTHER origin story
I actually saw a Spider-Man 4 poster that said “Justice, Sacrifice, Carnage,” I assumed that meant you know Carnage, but when I heard about Mankovitch I assumed it was about the carnage the vulture could create. I hope they try an “Untold Tales” angle like not telling the origin but telling like the high school years. It could work but I really liked these movies. Then again it could turn out like the Nolan series (much better then the original).
Has anyone seen an official press release from Sony? Everything on the net is quoting the same source and its not Sony yet. Please wake me when it is on the official Sony Website…
not really a fan of this move. I liked the idea of these characters in the 4th film and fleshing them out even more.
H4M: Thanks bro. I also want to thank Donovan for posting the story on the front page while I was at my day job.
I agree with that Mr. BD^ but I have to say I really wanted to see Mankovitch as Toomes but I guess that’s more of a high school story though, so you never know. I also have to thank you for getting this news to us so fast!
Well there are a lot more stories to tell of him in high school than the origin story.
… why ELSE would we be going back to high school?!?!?
Please, please….no retelling of the origin. We all know it.
De ja vu?