Does Spider-Man 4’s Next Rewrite Mean We Should Be Worried?

Rob Keyes — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:14:19 +0000

News has surfaced that Gary Ross, writer of such films including Seabiscuit, The Tale of Despereaux, Dave and Lassie in the past and writer/director of some others (that we’ll discuss later), is being brought in to re-write the script of Spider-Man 4.

What does this mean for the movie?

On one side, Ross was likely chosen because of his growing relationship with Sony which includes his directing of a Lance Armstrong cycling film and his work on the in-development Tokyo Suckerpunch.

On the other side, Spider-Man 4’s script is getting yet another rewrite meaning there are major issues with it (probably due to what happened in Spider-Man 3). This leaves me wondering what direction the film will take after the last movie and how, or if, it will lead at all into the Venom spinoff movie we’ve heard a lot about.

If you were expecting to hear any official updates as to who the villain(s) may be in the next installment, expect to wait a little longer with this news.

With these rewrites, I hope we get a solid and polished story for the movie. I highly disliked Spidey 3 and this needs return to the form of the first two. However, the difference is that I would like to see more of a real villain this time. We’ve seen far too much of the same formula of “I’m not really a bad guy, science did this to me” villains who redeem themselves at the end.

I wonder what Sam Raimi’s involvement with the script and story is this time around…

Interestingly, the only two movies Ross has directed, Tobey Maguire has starred in: Pleasantville and Seabiscuit which were both good movies. On top of that, they have two in-development films coming up in Tokyo Suckerpunch and The Crusaders. That gives me some hope at least.

What do you think of this fourth installment getting another re-write? Are they just ensuring the quality or is it a big mess?

Spider-Man 4 is scheduled to begin production next year and open May 6, 2011, sharing the summer with other heroes including Thor, Green Lantern and Captain America.

Source: Variety

Tobey Maguire Leaving Spider-Man Behind For ‘Tokyo?’

Ross Miller — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:10:17 +0000

Scared you there for a second, didn’t I?

Don’t worry, Tobey Maguire is still signed-on to reprise his role as Spider-Man for the fourth and fifth movies in the successful franchise, along with director Sam Raimi. However, Maguire is also set to star in a new romantic comedy called Tokyo Suckerpunch, which is based on the 2000 novel by Isaac Adamson.

According to Tokyo Suckerpunch screenwriter Ed Solomon (Men in Black, Charlie’s Angels), Maguire’s role in the film is so good that it could help the actor move past his role as Spidey. Bold words.

Tokyo Suckerpunch’s story follows a comic book writer who’s obsessed with the life he leads in his stories on the printed page until his real life suddenly turns into an adventure of its own. I just wonder if that adventure will end up being reminiscent to the trials and tribulations of our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man… Along the way he falls in love with his editor, who it has now been revealed is going to be played by Anne Hathaway.

Here’s what Ed Solomon had to say about Maguire’s role in Tokyo Suckerpunch:

“I believe that for Tobey it’s the perfect thing to go beyond [Spider-Man]… It’s a romantic comedy-it’s got a lot of action, but it’s mostly comedy set in Tokyo, about a guy who thinks he’s in love with one woman.”

With Maguire accepting the role in Tokyo Suckerpunch, does that mean he’s attempting to follow in the footsteps of Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) in trying to shake-off the Spider-Man role he’s been associated with for over 7 years now? (The only non-Spider-Man movies Maguire has put out in that time period were Seabiscuit in 2003 and The Good German in 2006.)

Tokyo Suckerpunch is currently labeled as “In Development” for 2011, which leads me to believe that Maguire could start working on the film sometime mid-to-late next year. So where does that leave Spider-Man 4 (and 5)? I’m pretty sure more importance will be placed upon the blockbuster franchise rather than a much smaller romantic comedy, even though Maguire may actually want to change his resume up a bit.

Just to give us a feel for the story of Tokyo Suckerpunch, Solomon gave us a bit more details about it:

“[Maguire's character is] a graphic novelist who lives in Cleveland and writes a graphic novel about himself that he sets in Tokyo… He has a certain fantasia of what Japan is and has a certain fantasia of what a real woman is. Neither exists in reality, but he goes off to Tokyo in pursuit of this fantasy woman.”

“…He ends up in this adventure not dissimilar to the kinds of things he writes about… it’s really about a guy figuring out what matters to him.”

I’m sure I’m not the only one who would rather Maguire concentrated on bringing us another awesome Spider-Man movie with Sam Raimi, instead of doing an out-of-left-field romantic comedy like Tokyo Suckerpunch. I’m all for being diverse, but in the case of the Spider-Man franchise, it’s not something you can just brush off; I really don’t think that would go down well with the fans (a lot of whom are still upset over Spider-Man 3), nor would it do any real favors for his career, at least not popularity-wise. In my opinion, Maguire should do at least one more Spider-Man movie before thinking about doing anything else.

What do you think of this Tokyo Suckerpunch project that Tobey Maguire has signed-on for? Do you think his concentration should be on Spider-Man before anything else?

Tokyo Suckerpunch is currently in development for a 2011 release.

Source: SciFiWire

Screen Rant » tokyo superpunch

Does Spider-Man 4’s Next Rewrite Mean We Should Be Worried?

Tobey Maguire Leaving Spider-Man Behind For ‘Tokyo?’