Well, They Decided to Kill the Spider Man Franchise...

[Kara]

There has been talk for months about Spider Man 4. Would the villain be Vulture, Kraven the Hunter, or the Lizard? Who will play Black Cat? Will Sam Raimi direct? Will Tobey Macguire return?

No. Sony, in their infinite genius, decided that they need to reboot the series. Why? Is there even any requirement for movie remakes and reboots anymore? Shouldn't they at least have to wait 20 years?

Batman needed a reboot, after the fiasco of Batman Forever/Batman and Robin. But Spider Man? It's not like the were terrible low-budget movies that ruined the source material. Hell, even the Spider Man comics don't reboot this soon.

This makes no sense at all. The whole reason that Raimi and Sony were arguing was that the studio wanted to rush out the next movie by 2011 and he didn't have the time to give the film the time and attention it deserves. But this bonehead move will put Spidey 4 out in 2012. So they wouldn't give Sam any more time to do what they wanted, then said "screw it, we'll do what we want," and that's going to necessitate more time anyway.

Damn you, Sony Pictures. Damn you to Hell.

Original Story

[MaggieTheCat]

That...sucks. Why reboot? The first two movies were great, I thought. They did a good job of establishing Peter and his abilities and how he learns to cope with and use them. I don't see any reason to reboot, especially this soon.

I'm really going to miss Toby as Peter. I thought he was perfect for the role.

I think Sony is going to be hard-pressed to reboot the series and make an origins story that's better than the original Spiderman that they've got now. My brother, an avid comic fan who's read Spiderman for years, LOVED the first movie. It might be his favorite movie of all time and it's certainly one of his favorite comic-based movies. He really liked the choice of actors for everyone. I'm not sure how they can do better than that.

[AdminAssistant]

I thought you were referring to this: http://spidermanonbroadway.marvel.com/ the Spiderman musical directed by Julie Taymor and featuring music by Bono & The Edge, which will either be horrible or amazing. I'm personally leaning toward horrible, even with Ms. Taymor's extroadinary vision.

To the movie reboot, eh. I didn't care for the first film. I don't like Tobey Macquire (whiny whiny whiny) or Kirsten Dunst (also whiny whiny whiny) sooo....yeah.

[Caveat Emptor]

I saw a blurb at the bottom of some news program today that said SM4 would not be out until 2012 and Tobey MacGuire would not be returning as Spiderman. Admittedly I have not seen SM2 or 3 all the way through, but it never works out when either a movie franchise or TV series has to replace the main star.

[Gravekeeper]

Wha? They'll never, ever, top the first one with Toby as Spidey. Especially not so soon. Wtf are they thinking? -.-

Ah Christ:

According to a release from Sony Pictures, the upcoming film will be "based on a script by James Vanderbilt that focuses on a teenager grappling with both contemporary human problems and amazing super-human crises."

Teenager? And from a script written by the guy that shat out X-Men Origins: Wolverine? My god.

[Evil Queen]

I wanna be Black Cat! I was her for a comic book convention some years ago.

I should stalk Sony Pictures.

[lordlundar]

I wanna be Black Cat! I was her for a comic book convention some years ago.

*ahem!*

Pics please?

[Kara]

Teenager? And from a script written by the guy that shat out X-Men Origins: Wolverine? My god.

Yeah, but who cares if the movie was horrible? It was a commercial success, therefore it was full of win.

Recasting Parker as more of a 'hottie' and a bigger emphasis on the romance will also likely pull in more of a female audience base and get the character more spoken about in the cultural ether in the way its biggest rival Batman is in the wake of Christopher Nolan's two films.

This is the key to the entire wrenched mess. By 2012, the "Twilight" movies will be done, so they think that if they make a similar movie that has brooding mopey teens it will be equally as successful. So get ready for "Team Spidey" handbags...

That actually brings up a point I hadn't even considered. They (Sony) believes that everyone wants a "Twilight" clone featuring Spider Man (God, I feel less intelligent just typing that). Now, people who love the books and movies can continue to do so all they want, but I seem to recall everyone bitching about "Emo Spider Man" in SM3. In fact, that's one of the major complaints people use to dismiss the third movie (while it had its flaws, I still vehemently defend it, but that's neither here nor there).

Plus Peter Parker is not, has never been, and should never be a "hottie." That goes against the very heart of the character and the story. Bruce Wayne/Batman isn't Spider Man's biggest rival, they are polar opposites. Wayne is a multi-billionaire playboy with access to unlimited technological resources to satisfy his obsessive desire for revenge against every criminal in the entire world for the murder of his parents. Peter Parker is a geek who got bit by a radioactive spider and decided to use his powers for good after the murder of his uncle. He's a "real" person. He faces financial problems, is often overwhelmed by the stress of life (not to mention juggling two lives), can't seem to hold on to his one true love for very long, botches countless relationships when not with her, is eventually forced to fight his best friend, and no matter what good Spider Man brings to the city it doesn't pay the bills and the poor guy just can't catch a break.

[Plaidman]

I wanna be Black Cat! I was her for a comic book convention some years ago.

I should stalk Sony Pictures.

*ahem!*

Pics please?

AGREED. Post Pics. Please. Pretty Please.

Plus Peter Parker is not, has never been, and should never be a "hottie." That goes against the very heart of the character and the

I slightly disagree. I've read several of the comics, where many woman and girls do find that Peter is cute and a hottie. Despite the fact he is a nerd, he still built, and some girls see that. Alot are shock at that, but none are unhappy. He is very kind person. He does what he belives in. Very attractive in men for girls supposedly. Well, no. Its true. XD Complete opposite of me.

[Broomjockey]

Bruce Wayne/Batman isn't Spider Man's biggest rival, they are polar opposites.

you're not taking them literally enough. They are saying the movies Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are the biggest rivals to the Spider-Man movies (in terms of Box Office Gross)

[Jester]

Reboot. Bleah.

No Sam Raimi. Crap!

No Tobey Maguire. Fuck!

No Kirsten Dunst. NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, in my opinion, reboots are not always a bad thing. THIS, however, is a bad, bad thing. What in the flying hell were they thinking? There are and have been so many bad and even truly awful comic book movies, and the Spider Man movies were easily the best out there. And I'm not just saying that because thoughts of a wet Kirsten Dunst in the first one make me tremble and quake like a kid amped out on too much Ritalin. (True story: the very first thing I ever bought off of ebay was a picture of Ms. Dunst from that particular scene.)

No, they truly were great movies. EVEN the third one, which people seem to enjoy dogging.

And now they are going to reboot, remake, and recast it. Yeah, good luck with that knucklehead move, Sony.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against reboots. The Star Trek one was probably a good idea, despite the fact that it messed with so much canon from the ST universe. The Hulk one was necessary considering how bad that first one with Eric Bana was a few years ago. (Any film that features Jennifer Connelly in it that bores me is a bad, bad film.) But to reboot this series, this successful series, this soon? Charles Manson thinks this is a crazy idea!

They (Sony) believes that everyone wants a "Twilight" clone featuring Spider Man (God, I feel less intelligent just typing that).

I felt less intelligent just reading that!

And by the way, if they do in fact redo this in the spirit of Twilight, I hope that the Sony execs in charge of this move get attacked by teenage vampires and ripped to shreds. Because that is just criminal.

[Broomjockey]

Besides, everyone knows for a successful comic movie reboot, it needs to be the fifth movie. Batman and Superman proved that.

[Evil Queen]

Pics please?

AGREED. Post Pics. Please. Pretty Please.

I wish I had pics. I looked darned good in that get up. I didn't get pics because it was.... a busy convention.

[AdminAssistant]

Forgive my ignorance, but I thought they were supposed to stop at the third movie. I mean...good things come in three's right? Or perhaps, they saw that the third movie got less than stellar reviews and wanted to scrap it and start over. Besides, there's a good chance that the actors involved would want to move on from those roles, expand the repertoire, etc. (not that I think anything could make Macguire or Dunst good actors, but that's beside the point.)

Maybe now Raimi can team up with Bruce Campbell for Evil Dead 4: The Rise of S-Mart or something.

[Evil Queen]

I don't know if he'll be able to get Bruce Campbell to make another movie. I thought he was still doing "Burn Notice"?

I hope he does another movie similar to "Drag me to Hell". That was great.