Deadline Hollywood’s Mike Fleming, Jr. has posted what he says is a short list of possible directors for the upcoming second Spider-Man reboot.
Via Deadline:
In the wake of the massive opening of Avengers: Age Of Ultron, it’s no surprise that the audition process everybody’s talking about is the selection of a director for the next iteration of Sony Pictures’ live-action Spider-Man franchise, the first one that teams rights holder Sony Pictures with Marvel Studios genius Kevin Feige (after Ultron became Marvel’s ninth straight hit, is that designation overstatement?)
There are all kinds of rumors raging about the wall crawler, including that Feige and his producing accomplice Amy Pascal are planning an arc that will tell the Spidey story over three to four movies, each covering a year of high school for Peter Parker, who’ll already have been bitten by the radioactive spider so we don’t have to see that all over again. The tone they are searching for in the coming of age tale is John Hughes humor and emotion, plus all the superhero stuff.
Here are the filmmakers I’m told are seriously in the mix right now. Don’t take this as being all inclusive, but it sounds like things are moving quickly and they could make a decision by the end of next week and make a final choice with studio chief Tom Rothman. There is 50/50 and Warm Bodies writer/helmer Jonathan Levine; Ted Melfi, writer/director of Golden Globe-nommed St. Vincent; Pitch Perfect helmer Jason Moore; John Francis Daley & Jonathan M. Goldstein, the directors/writers of the updated version of John Hughes’ Vacation; and Napoleon Dynamite and Don Verdean writer/director Jared Hess.
Noticeably absent from the list is Drew Goddard. Goddard (a Joss Whedon protege) was tapped as the showrunner for Daredevil before abandoning Marvel for Sony in order to take over their ailing Spider-Franchise, which was listing and taking on water after the disappointment of Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Our very own Stillanerd looked into what Sony and Goddard had planned for the Sinister Six movie and at one point Goddard was rumored to be taking over the MCU Spidey – but now Goddard’s name seems to be out. Based on the Sony emails released on Wikileaks, there may have been some bad blood between Goddard and Marvel after he quit Daredevil. The deal between Disney Marvel and Sony may have removed Goddard from Spider-consideration.
–George Berryman!
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Sure sounds like an Ultimate version and maybe inspired a bit by the Harry Potter franchise, in which each film (like each book) represented a different school year. That formula generated a string of highly successful HP films.
@3 – 😎
After Daredevil, I was hoping Goddard could be in there, but with those leaked e-mails, yeah Goddard didn’t just burn bridges, but knocked out the foundations, and dug trenches on the sides of the river. The lesson: don’t be a TOTAL dick when taking a new job.
None of those directors really look that great, but then I presume they’re more looking for someone they can control. No surprise Goddard isn’t on the list given what happened between him and Marvel. I was somewhat surprised he was up for consideration and perhaps thought they’d patched things up, but it seems that may not be the case.
I am not liking the sound of that potential plan for the movies though. Three to four movies, all in high school? What is this seeming obsession with Peter being in high school again? I’m fine if they want to do it for maybe one movie and then show him graduating in the second with college coming up in the third or something, but all of it being in high school feels a bit too much.
It works with something like SSM because that was a weekly television series that kept track of time and continuity. Given the limited run time you can work with on movies, they can’t be wasting it with high school shenanigans.
Unless they’re trying to go with more of an Ultimate adaptation, which I can’t say I like the idea of either.
Doesn’t look like things are getting much better over at Sony in regards to the Spidey franchise.
Keep throwing your money away, Sony! Then you can just sell the character back to Marvel.