[Update: E! Online's Ted Casablanca reports that all talk on Spider-Man 4, as well as 5, is "jumping the gun" according to his sources. He adds that Tobey Maguire has not signed on to return calling the earlier claims "premature." Although it appears Maguire will probably return. - Jamie.]
Despite the fact that it made $900 million, I’ve yet to meet a single person who actually liked Spider-Man 3. Hell, the audience I saw it with went full-on MST3K resulting in huge laughter during the midnight screening.
But since its release, there have been countless rumors regarding the future of the Spider-Man franchise. “Is Tobey Maguire going to stop playing Webhead?” and “What will Sam Raimi’s involvement be… if any?” were among the many questions asked by fanboys across the internet.
Now it looks like plans are under-way to get Webhead’s fourth cinematic outing to the silver screen ASAP.
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According to Nikki Finke over at Deadline Hollywood Daily, Sony has hammered out new deals for director Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire to return for Spider-Man 4 among other things.
Even though most people would prefer her non-participation, Sony supposedly “would never recast” Kirsten Dunst as Spidey’s main-squeeze Mary Jane Watson. Although Finke was quick to point out no deal is in place for her yet – this despite the fact that her character will return.
“Once you find out who the villain is, you’ll know who’s playing it” says their source(s) regarding the identity of the next Spider villain. Um, okay. I would assume then they’re referring to Dylan Baker’s Dr. Conners. That’s the Lizard for all of you non-comic book readers out there!
And what about those rumors at the start of the summer of Spider-Man 4 and 5 being filmed concurrently? Apparently, Sony is considering it. While those God-awful Pirates of the Caribbean and Matrix sequels are not the best example of this, it did work for the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Honestly, I find it hard to believe Sony is willing to fork all that money to Raimi and Maguire considering the reception of 3. I’m sorry, but this franchise needs new blood behind the camera. On the other hand, Jamie Vanderbilt is writing the script – the same guy who penned the most excellent Zodiac, which starred Robert Downey Jr.
Not to mention, Tobey’s getting on up there in years. He’ll be 36 years-old when its released in May 2011. You think he can still effectively play a character whose in his early-20s by then?
And what’s with the sudden “sacred cow” of keeping Kirsten Dunst around when damn-near nobody wants her (or her character) to come back?
I’m pretty iffy about this news, folks. Personally, I’d take it with a grain of salt until we hear something official from Sony.
Spider-Man 4 is currently aiming for a May 2011 release.
Source: Deadline Hollywood Daily
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115 Comments
Ah crap, and I was so hoping for a more scientific, wise-cracking Peter iteration. A new MJ would be nice though.
But for God’s sake, can we please just have one villain?
New blood would be nice. But Hollywood likes to stick with what’s worked before, financially at least.
I was hoping for a clean slate.
Dissapointing news.
Best news since Ghost Rider 2!!
Oh and pleased to meet ya Jamie, I loved Spider Man 3.
Let the casting debate begin !!!!!
Hopefully Sony reallizes the mistakes made in S3 (ie throwing Venom in the mix when the story was obviously meant to be Sandman, Spidey, and Harry).
I wish Sony would let Raimi use the classic villains he chooses, Venom just threw it all off (afterall, S2 was damn near a perfect superhero movie). I am a little tired of Raimi showing every villain as being not-such-a-bad guy, and Lizard would be no different.
Will it sounds like at least for #4 it may be Doc Connors/The Lizard. But if they’re filming 4/5 combined, that means we’ll be looking at multiple villains for sure.
Vic
I think it will be the Jackal and the Gwen Stacy angle even though the Goblin tosses her off the Brooklyn Bridge..There’s no reason someone else can’t inherit the Goblin’s weapons and thereby toss Gwen to her doom…Hell even the Lizard could do that with Dr. Miles Warren (JAckal) who is an Empire State University biology professor who becomes infatuated with Gwen. Hey Peter could be dating Gwen, Professor Warren and Professor Connors since they both are employed by Empire State University could be working together to try and get Connors work on regeneration off the ground and also working concurrently on Warren’s cloning research…Connors becomes the Lizard, Warren the Jackal and Spiderman and Gwen are caught in the middle with lizard doing the job of throwing Gwen to her death or MJ if you like…that would be a great cliff hanger from Spidey 4 to 5 with Spidey trying to catch Gwen(MJ) from hitting the water. But this is the part I don’t like Warren can clone so he brings Gwen(MJ) back to life using his technology but he also clones Parker and we get a Spiderman vs Spiderman climax in the finale of Spiderman 5…Sound good to anyone..I may have rambled too much…
I think it will be the Jackal and the Gwen Stacy angle even though the Goblin tosses her off the Brooklyn Bridge..There’s no reason someone else can’t inherit the Goblin’s weapons and thereby toss Gwen to her doom…Hell even the Lizard could do that with Dr. Miles Warren (JAckal) who is an Empire State University biology professor who becomes infatuated with Gwen. Hey Peter could be dating Gwen, Professor Warren and Professor Connors since they both are employed by Empire State University could be working together to try and get Connors work on regeneration off the ground and also working concurrently on Warren’s cloning research…Connors becomes the Lizard, Warren the Jackal and Spiderman and Gwen are caught in the middle with lizard doing the job of throwing Gwen to her death or MJ if you like…that would be a great cliff hanger from Spidey 4 to 5 with Spidey trying to catch Gwen(MJ) from hitting the water. But this is the part I don’t like Warren can clone so he brings Gwen(MJ) back to life using his technology but he also clones Parker and we get a Spiderman vs Spiderman climax in the finale of Spiderman 5…Sound good to anyone..I may have rambled too much…
I hate the double post….
Ques, why does Spider Man’s girlfriends allways have to be rescued?
And why would the Lizard kill Gwen?
What’s he get out of that?
2 Spiderman’s fighting ??
The fight scene from “They Live” comes to mind.
It’s a story arc from the comics 790..Gwen isn’t rescued, she dies. If Prof Warren and Prof Connors are working together maybe Connors blames Warren for his transformation into the Lizard and since he knows that Warren is in love with Gwen he kills her to get his revenge..Warren then clones Gwen because he has a sample of her DNA(Peter’s too)[Peter was his lab assistant in the comics I believe] and since Gwen loves Peter he clones Peter to try and control Gwen with the cloned Peter … finding out Peter is SPiderman is just a by product of the cloning process a cloned Peter would also have Spiderman’s abilities. The Lizard recognizes Peter as Spiderman because of his Scent..smae way Wolverine figured out Peter was Spiderman…
Any more questions 790?
Like sands through the hourglass…no that was Spidey 3 !!
And what is MST3K??
Is that how they introduce Lizard in the comics?
Sounds a little too comic book for a film.
I can’t see why the clone spider man would automaticaly be evil?
One thing that’s great about the Spider Man dvd’s,,,
Chapter selection !!
Skip right past that Mary Jane scene.
@greenknight
MST3K = Mystery Science Theater 3000
It was a program that made fun of really bad B-movies with a guy and two “robots” sitting in a movie theater cracking jokes while the movie played.
http://www.mst3k.com/
Vic
I guess the next films will follow in line with the ‘dark’ theme, not cartoon venom comedic wasteful jazz emo dark, but darker in style and story like TDK.
I don’t know what I want from this, on one side I’d like to see Tobey back because I buy him as Spidey (even though I hated Spidey 3) and on the other side, I wouldn’t mind them rebooting…but if they were to reboot, I need another 10 year lapse…we literally just came off the super successful trilogy, it doesn’t make any sense to be rebooting so soon. I actually think that would piss off more people than it would brining Raimi and Tobey back.
I want to see it tied into the Avengers movie (maybe the end intro-ing the new avengers with spidey, heh..i know thats way to much to ask for and tobey would be too old)
I allways knew Sony wasn’t going to mess with the Raimi / Maguire combo.
However ppl feel about Spider Man 3, it was a MONSTER HIT, and there’s nothing you can do about it. There coming back.
Great to hear that Spidy is now moving along towards a new movie (or 2!),mixed feelings about same team coming back,but if that’s what’s happening then I’ll get right behind it and hope they’ll have learned from the flat/boring bits of no;3 and give us an action packed fast paced cracker of a blockbuster!!!
I hope the Rhino gets a call up for some big screen action somehow even though I’d love him to show up in a future Hulk movie!
There were quite dark scary bits in both Spidey 1 & 2 concarning the villains that seemed to be missing from 3.I hope Raimi can re-introduce this elememt into future movies and have a movie that gives fun,action,humour and terror mixed in to the movie to give us the best superhero movie yet!!!
Rock On!!!
ya, but everyone who went to see Spidey 3 now know it wasn’t such a good idea. Like pirates 3 and matrix 3 made tons of money…but not all of them would jump back in the following year to see the next because they were scammed the year prior, lol.
Speaking for myself, I have lost faith in that crew for what they did in Spidey 3. They showed that they no longer cared about delivering a good product and good story.
They just wanted to market the hell out of it so badly that everyone would see it and they did… At least i am happy about their Spidey 3 toylines and Pirates 3 toylines being awful failures
@ 790
CLoned Spiderman is not evil per say it’s just he doesn’t realize he is the clone and thinks he is the real Parker/Spiderman and he thinks the real Parker is the clone…THey fight until the clone realizes he is the clone and sacrifices himself to save the real Peter.
Lizard comes to be when Connors tries to combine human DNA with reptilian DNA so he can use reptiles power of regeneration to grow back his arm..It works initially as he regrows his arm but a later transformation takes place slowly as Connors realizes he may be completely be turning into a reptile..
C’mon 790 this is all stuff they are basically trying with modern science and research…Cloning and regeneration I mean…It shouldn’t seem that far fetched..i.e., too comic bookish…cripers if that was the case none of these CBM would even get made in the first place because they are all comic bookish
A Vic thanks for the info and the link..I have heard of it but never have seen it…
Rob it was more about the studio’s greed for tie-ins and toylines….Raimi was never hot on the idea of Venom and he buckled to pressure from Avu Arad and other producersa nd I’m sure the studio to put Venom in the film
THe character was wasted…I think except for the cheesy Parker dancing scenes and the MJ singing and dancing stuff the movie was not that bad..It’s like 790 said CHapter selection Baby!!! Skip the bad parts
Avi Arad
@greenknight
Regarding Venom, very true. He was shoehorned into the story and it showed.
Vic
No more Kirsten Dunst as MJ pl. Move Gwen > Movie MJ. If you’re going to put MJ in future films she needs to be recast.
No new cast, just a better story, the actors are fine.
that is all
I’ll go against the grain here as I enjoyed Spiderman 3. Yes, there were too many characters but unlike some I enjoyed the musical number. I just thought it worked. While not as good as 1 and 2 its still a solid entry in the series. This is not a Superman 3 or 4 or Batman and Robin which many who pile on claim it to be. Sam Raimi is just to talented to be put in that category. I certainly understand movie watching is subjective but I like Spiderman 3 and look forward to part 4.
My only compaint about spidey 3 is that Venom was shoehorned in. it would’ve been better to go with the orginal idea of using vulture to seduce SAndman (sorry but Vulture in a movie would rule.) then maybe people would still enjoy the francise instead or defaming the thrid one.
Ps. I’m glad they are keeping Tobey as spidey, he has that nice average guy look that is needed for the spider. Now if there only more wise-cracks from the spider then we would be in business
I can see Topher getting the call to play Venom again.
You guys say that Venom was shoehorned into Spider Man 3,,,
(IMO), no more than Two Face was shoehorned in TDK…
The point of Two Face in TDK was to show how grey the line between the WHite KNight (Dent) and the Ultimate face of Chaos (Joker) was not much of a line at all…Harvey showed that anyone could be pushed into evil acts of revenge except for THE DARK KNIGHT of course..there was no compromising on Batmans values…Venom was in SPiderman to sell merchandise and possibly to see if the character could be popular enough to carry his own movie(I think he can)..He wasn’t serving any particular purpose to the S3 story except to show the golden rule to Parker…do unto others…blah,blah,blah..He never made Peter a stronger person or a better person…HArry and Sandman did that…Venom was wasted…Harry ended up being Peter’s true friend to the end and Sandman brought closure to Peter with his Uncle Ben .
Venom’s goo was the catalyst of the entire film,,,
Same way Dent was the catalyst in TDK,,,
I disagree Venom wasn’t the catalyst for anything…Sandman was the catylyst with him being revealed as the real killer of Ben Parker and Harry was there to inflame the situation with MJ and of course for redemption and sacrifice for Peter in the end.Venom was eye candy for the fan boys…
Venom wasn’t just eye candy,,, the Venum goo was responable for Peter going to the darkside, literally with power…
Peter going to the darkside was the theme of the film…
Psssssst…
Here’s a tip…
He’s been in every Spiderman film…
He’s watching and waiting in the wings…
Villan = Mysterio
Played by the ‘Man God’… Bruce Campbell
Link: http://www.marvel.com/universe/Mysterio_(Quentin_Beck)
Something to chew on while I test the new War Machine armor… – Stark
Spider man3 was worse than i originally thought, venom was terrible why was he just a black version of spidey with none of the shape shifting moves he usually has and his build is far bigger than spidey, venom was to comical and not dark enough he’s kinda a good guy but not with morals he should have killed criminals making him a bigger threat showing him to be less remorseful.
if they had done that as a 2 part then comes venoms off spring carnage oh well not in this life time.
I totally agree with entertainmenttodatandbetond, Spider-Man 3 was no shambles of a movie as I’ve said before,there was just as much mistakes in TDK,but no-one wants to admit that for some reason,Spidey 3 was just a bit too long,too many characters,but I think most of the cast & crew wanted to make a great movie but ended up with a very good movie!They did try!
There is a lot of band-wagon jumping going on with a lot of these movies now,but real superhero movie fans should think for themselves,everyone else can keep on going on about how TDK is really amazing an perfect with no flat boring bits with too many characters and villains!
Roll on Spider-Man 4!!!!
I’ve never understood the hate for Kirsten Dunst as MJ. I thought she was great in the first two. She looked bored in the third one, but hey, I was bored too.
If we do get a new MJ, it will be a Katie Holmes situation- everybody assuming she was fired, when she really dropped out voluntarily. She already as said that three was probably enough for the series, and she has much more of a future in the biz than Tobey Maguire. Being the girl in a superhero movie doesn’t exactly advance her career any.
Kirsten the smelly drunken actress who plays MJ…Can’t think of a better actress to play a model/actress in a Spiderman movie…
Sandman and MJ’s breaking it off with Peter and Peter finding out it was Harry had more to do with Peter’s transformation than the symbiote..THe story would have worked better without the symbiote actually…It wasn’t needed as the catalyst because Sandman and HArry were enough for that..
I’m curious, greenknight, have you personally smelled Kirsten Dunst?
Anyway, she’s good in some mediocre movies like Elizabethtown and Mona Lisa Smile, and I still haven’t forgotten her brilliant work at age 12 on Interview With a Vampire. I like Spiderman, but I think KD has better things ahead of her.
Spidey 3 coulda & shoulda been made without venom, and I believe the online talk that Avi Arid convinced Raimi to inlcude him, against Raimi’s better judgment. Why add a villain for the fanboys if you don’t have time to develo the character???
TDK did suffer from similar problems, but IMO TDK could have been edited down (e.g. minus the ferry boats) and been a better movie, where S3 needed cutting, adding, and recasting.
I think they should forget Sm 4 and 5 and reboot. You could keep some of the same actors like J.K. Simmons, Fred Molina, Thomas Haden Church, Dylan Baker, Whoever played J.J.’s assistant and Betty Brant, and…if they wanna keep aunt may, thats an easy position to fill. Otherwise James Mcavoy should play Peter Parker(Attonemant, Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe)and Kristen Bell should play Gwen Stacy(Heroes, Assasins Creed). Peter Does not need an Origin because everyone knows it. The villains, yes multiple villains need to be the sinister six consisting of Hydro-Man(Matt Dillon), Lizard(Dylan Baker), Sandman(Thomas Haden Church), Doc Ock(Fred Molina), Electro(D.J. Qualls), and Kraven(Oded Ferr), none of them get origins, and obviously not the original group. The story is the sinister six all got screwed over by spider-man and they all want to kill him. They form the group and through Doc Ocks brain and the rests brawn they overpower him until originless Black Cat(Elisha Cuthbert) comes to the rescue and they barely escape. Regrouping they cannot find a way to beat the sinister six…and thats about as far as i got. This movie could be a flop or it could be super sweet. its title is “Amazing Spider-Man”
Yeah, Kirsten Dunst was fantastic in Interview, but she hasn’t done anything particularly well since.
and she probably does smell…
Damn, I was hoping for a new cast, I’ve always hated Maguire and Kirsten Dunst looks like she’s high all the time… Well, she is a celebrity, so maybe she is… That could explain a lot.
@ Bently
Personally I wouldn`t want to get that close to KD…
“Honestly, I find it hard to believe Sony is willing to fork all that money to Raimi and Maguire considering the reception of 3.”
Are you kidding? The movie did close to a billion dollars of business worldwide. If you want to report on entertainment news you need to separate fanboy opinions like “no one I knew liked the movie” from analysis of value based on information.
The Movie made around 1000000000 worldwide which is not as great as you think when you subtract all of its production cost, promotion, and add critical and fan dislike.
@RD
I hear what you’re saying, but Spider-Man 3 rode a LONG way on hype and anticipation. If a lot of people were disappointed by it, that could very well impact the box office take of the next film.
I think that’s one reason The Incredible Hulk didn’t do better this summer – because people didn’t like the previous one, so it affected the attendence of this film, regardless of the fact that it was better.
Vic
There were more good bits in Spidey 3 than bad!!What’s wrong with that?Just take the same approach that fans of TDK take and ignore the crappie bits and you’ll see a pretty entertaining movie!Plus it made a bucket load of cash…which again I’ve been told proves TDK is a great movie!!!(which it ain’t)!
I’m going to quote one of my all-time favourite comicbook “heroes” on this one and say:
“I think my common senses are tingling.”
Rev
When we reviewed Spider-Man 3, the base theory was this:
As a movie, where you open and close your eyes every 30 seconds to take a snapshot of the film – outstanding effort.
As something you want to take almost anything intellectual away from as a comic book fan? Not so much. Venom was a hiccup in that movie and the murderous, law-breaking rage that is The Sandman is allowed to whither into the morning sun?
One of the best parts I’ll never for get is the initial meeting of Sandman and Evil Venom:
“Hellow, Evil Spiderman Suit That I fought on sight before, how are you?”
“Oh, I’m fine, sandy superhero villain. How’s it going? How about we “team-up” against Spider-Man and kill him, because I know your murderous rage?”
“Sounds like a plan, my black-flapping suited goodness home slice! Word!”
/me watches Sandman and Venom (though he’s never called that in the movie, by the way) dance into the sultry evening breeze of downtown New York to get a red hot, a newspaper and – oh, go kick some Spidey ass.
/me rolls eyes
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