There's no keeping Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man down, not even a failed attempt to launch a shared cinematic universe centered around the one and only web-slinging superhero (see The Amazing Spider-Man 2). Following in the footsteps of Tobey Maguire and, most recently, Andrew Garfield, Tom Holland (In the Heart of the Sea) will be the next actor to bring Peter Parker to life in live-action on the big screen, starting with his appearance in Captain America: Civil War this year.

Holland's Peter Parker will then get his own solo movie based in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with a film that is being co-developed by Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures; now, with an official title of Spider-Man: Homecoming. The MCU Spider-Man solo movie will be hitting theaters in Summer 2017, followed by the release of an animated Spider-Man movie (one that will not be part of the MCU continuity) in December 2018.

Sony used its presentation at the 2016 CinemaCon in Las Vegas to unveil the official logo for the animated Spider-Man feature (hat tip Comic Book). You can check out the animated Spider-Man logo, below.

The animated Spider-Man film, for those reading who have only now found out that this project is even happening, doesn't have a director attached yet, but is being co-written and produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller: the co-writers of the critically-acclaimed computer-animated features Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and The LEGO Movie (the latter of which the pair also helmed). Sony re-confirmed a December 2018 release target for the Spider-Man cartoon film during its 2016 CinemaCon showing. It's highly unlikely that Lord and Miller will end up directing the animated Spider-Man movie in addition to serving as writers and producers, seeing as the pair are currently in early pre-production on Disney/Lucasfilm's young Han Solo movie for a May 2018 release.

Sony Pictures Animation President Kristine Belson was on-hand at the studio's CinemaCon presentation to offer assurances to the crowd in attendance that the animated Spider-Man (its actual director TBA) is already shaping up to be something special, starting that "Conceptually and visually it will break new ground, not only for animated movies, but for the superhero genre."

While The Amazing Spider-Man 2 took its fair share of punches from critics and the general moviegoing public alike, it also earned praise for raising the bar when it comes to Spider-Man action sequences in the character's live-action movies. Several members of the press who have already seen Civil War have begun to generate positive buzz around Spidey's role/action scenes in that film too - yet arguably, the computer-animation medium better lends itself to the type of next-level Spider-Man fight sequences and acrobatics that are simply too difficult to pull off in live-action without just making the action entirely CGI, anyway.

Much like the computer-animated TV series Star Wars: Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels have boasted exciting lightsaber duels/battles that are comparatively free of the constraints of real-world physics, a full-blown digitally-rendered world could well allow for Spider-Man to be shown in motion in ways that even 2D animated TV series such as The Spectacular Spider-Man and Ultimate Spider-Man never could... if handled with care, of course. The animated Spider-Man might also be the preferable version for those who like their Peter Parker on the extra funny and quip-happy side (not to mention, his adventures purely family-friendly in nature), compared to his live-action counterparts.

NEXT: Lord & Miller Talk Animated Spider-Man Movie

The Animated Spider-Man Movie (official title TBA) will open in U.S. theaters on December 21st, 2018.

Source: Comic Book