It can’t be easy for actors to find out a decades worth of work is being swept aside, but that is what’s happening with the Spider-Man trilogy. Of course it won’t be completely forgotten, but Sony pulled the rug from under Spider-Man 4 which was months away from filming, and instead decided to start anew.

After the announcement Kirsten Dunst, who was preparing herself for another turn as Mary Jane, said it was “sad to see it end”, and now the actress has given more of her thoughts on the reboot, saying the new guys are “in a funny position”.

From Hero Complex:

“I mean, everyone was coming back, and they were casting a villain,” the 28-year-old said, “I knew it wasn’t ready to go, but I knew they were working on it. And they decided not to, so — you know what, it was only sad because we didn’t know the last one was going to be our last. So we didn’t have that extra little ‘This is the last time, guys.’ We didn’t get to have that grieving. It was a little like, ‘Oh, we’re not doing it, bummer.’”

“They have a lot to live up to,” Dunst said. “I do really like Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield. I know that Emma’s playing Gwen Stacy, but I wonder what story they’re gonna tell, because it wasn’t that long ago — we’re not, like, old people. That’s why I’d be nervous. They’re gonna tell the story, I guess, from the beginning again — but in a different way. But it wasn’t that long ago that we told that story. So the pressure’s on again a little bit in that way. Yeah, they’re in a funny position. But, hey, I’m sure they’re gonna work it out.”

I suppose Dunst is right in a way. If the reboot fails to make more than $783 million worldwide (the lowest the trilogy made with Spider-Man 2) it will have failed to live up to the previous trilogy box office-wise. The quality of the new movie will be a bit more subjective, but Raimi didn’t make bad films despite Spider-Man 3 being a disappointment.

Marc Webb, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone will begin filming in 2 weeks time, and i’m sure all Spider-Man fans hope they deliver.

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Back when Spider-Man 4‘s production was moving along relatively well John Malkovich was in talks to join the film as The Vulture. Director Sam Raimi had wanted the winged villain to appear in previous Spider-Man movies, and it seemed he was finally going to get the chance to introduce the character as Peter Parker’s foe in Spider-Man 4. That was, of course, until the film was scrapped.

Since then Malkovich has moved on and recently signed up to appear in Transformers 3, however in a recent interview he spoke of his disappointed about the situation, and suggested that The Vulture may have actually been a reason for the films demise.

From Collider:

Well, I think a lot of the people who sort of follow that genre… I’m not sure, I never really spoke with Sam about this, but I’m not sure they — maybe the kind of fanbase, the fanboys — either didn’t approve of that character as an adversary for him to some extent…or maybe the studio. Or maybe that was totally unrelated to why it fell apart.”

I then told him the fanboys and online community were extremely excited that he was going to be the Vulture. So was he disappointed when the project fell apart?

“Yes [I was disappointed],” he says. “But because I like Sam and I like Toby [Maguire] and all that stuff, and the producers, two of whom I’d met before because I’d been offered the first [film] … I came to like them, so sure why not? But it didn’t play out.”

In case you were unaware, he was offered Green Goblin in the first Spider-Man.

Malkovich’s statement seems to back up what New York Magazine’s Vulture blog (funnily enough) suggested in February:

Condensed, it went something like this: Peter Parker gets over MJ, finds a new girl, falls in love. But: Peter also discovers her father is actually the Vulture, a naughty green guy with wings to be played by John Malkovich. Peter is torn between the love of his new lady and taking down the Vulture. Being a Spandex tight-ass, he decides to take down the Vulture, and kills him. This patricide goes down poorly with Peter’s new fiancée, and she rejects him. Despondent, Peter decides to abandon his superpowers, and Movie No. 4 ends with Peter Parker throwing away his Spider-Man mask, and audiences wondering if they are watching Superman II.

Sony’s execs didn’t much care for this dour story line, and its consumer-products division especially detested the villain who, let’s face it, is pushing 60. (But hey, John Malkovich, from one Vulture to another, we think you look great! Really!) Columbia’s toy partner, Hasbro, also worried that suggesting its main character was packing it in might hurt future toy sales. And these days, toys are a key revenue stream, and demand far more forethought than that given to the scripts of $200 million movies.

I was actually looking forward to Spider-Man 4 but maybe the film falling apart was a blessing in disguise. The script underwent numerous re-writes and Raimi and Sony were having disagreements over the story, casting and budget. Sony also hired James Vanderbilt to write the reboot while Spider-Man 4 was in production as a back-up plan in case the film didn’t go ahead, and in the end they chose the (less expensive) reboot.

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We’ve already heard from Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire on the demise of Spider-Man 4 in the form of a press release (i’m sure we’ll get their real thoughts in a few years), and now we have a few quotes on the matter from James Franco and Kirsten Dunst, who we know played Harry Osborn and Mary-Jane Watson in the trilogy.

The end of Spider-Man 4 wouldn’t have impacted Franco in a big way (bar a possible flashback/mirror talking scene), however he spoke to E! Online about Sony’s plan to reboot the franchise. Kirsten Dunst also spoke briefly.

“I don’t have a problem with that,” Franco, who played Harry Osborn in the superhero franchise, said at tonight’s Sundance Film Festival opening-night premiere of HOWL, his new movie about the late poet Allen Ginsberg. “It worked out well for Batman, and comics themselves have different artists and writers. I think it’s perfectly fine.”

But he cautioned, “I think for the viewers you want a little space [between Raimi's and Webb's flicks], so you can get everyone else out of your head.”

Franco and Maguire’s Spider-Man costar Kirsten Dunst told us the other night at the Art of Elysium benefit, “It’s sad to see it end. I think for Sam it was time for him to move on, and so we’re all going to move on with him. But we’ve had a good 10 years.”

I’m sure Raimi, Maguire and Dunst are all disappointed that things didn’t work out, as it would have been their chance to improve upon Spider-Man 3 and we know from past interviews that they like working with each other.

Now Sony are moving ahead with the reboot directed by Marc Webb with a cast of relative unknowns and a budget of around $80 million (which is roughly the amount they would have had to pay the trio to return).

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Before we talk about Spider-Man i’d like to give people a little reminder on rights. The reason 20th Century Fox continue to churn out X-Men films and the reason the Spider-Man franchise will continue is because Marvel will have an opportunity to re-claim the rights if the studios don’t put them into use (each deal varies, but it’s usually 4/5 years with no active development). Warner Bros. is at risk from losing the Superman rights if it doesn’t get a movie in development over the next few years. With the rights in mind, lets look at the recent news that Sony will be rebooting Spider-Man in 2012.

There was talk of Sony rebooting the franchise before Spider-Man 4 was announced. This was before Sam Raimi signed on to direct and Tobey came onboard, but their return put those plans on the back burner. James Vanderbilt was the first writer to start work on the script, however David Lindsay-Abaire was then hired to do re-writes (or possibly start from scratch). In July Gary Ross was brought in to do further re-writes, which didn’t look very good at all. Something was obviously not working if three writers were needed to do revisions of the script.

With hindsight the news in August that James Vanderbilt had been hired by Sony to write Spider-Man 5 & 6 should have got a bit more attention, however as Spider-Man 4 was developing nobody though much of it. According to the report Vanderbilt’s script would be the blueprint for a franchise reboot should Maguire, Raimi and Dunst choose not to return. Looking back it seems Sony were developing a ‘Plan B’ in case Spider-Man 4 didn’t work out. With the continued re-writes and Raimi signing on to direct World of Warcraft things weren’t certain.

There are a few reasons why Spider-Man 4 didn’t work out. It was made public that Raimi wasn’t happy with the script, and filming was delayed. Rumor has it that the script contained ‘The Vultress’ who Anne Hathaway was in talk to play. The character would have borrowed elements from Black Cat, however she would have been the daughter of The Vulture, who John Malkovich would have played. There were also rumors that Peter Parker and Mary Jane would have had a baby. This hasn’t been confirmed, however there was a casting call asking for a 2 year old toddler with red hair.

During the big meeting this week to decide the fate of Spider-Man 4 Sony went into it knowing that they have a script for a reboot ready and waiting. They knew they would reboot the franchise at some point in the future anyway as Tobey and Raimi wouldn’t be around forever. The benefit of having a reboot with a cheaper cast and lower budget was probably more appealing to them than paying the fees Maguire and Dunst would have received with a $250 million+ budget. They asked Raimi if he could make the film for summer 2011, he said he couldn’t keep the film’s creative integrity with that schedule, so it was scrapped and Plan B came into function.

Since the announcement that the reboot would be happening and we would be seeing it in 2012 there have been a few indications as to where it might go. Sony tweeted that Peter Parker would be heading back to high school, which spawned suggestions that Sony were going to aim for the Twilight/teen market. Now EW are saying that “the series will place Peter Parker in a more contemporary setting, as a teenager battling today’s issues” and that Sony are “interested in a more gritty, contemporary redo of the series”. This reboot could very well be what Batman Begins was to the Batman franchise, but I do think it is rather soon to have a reboot. However it goes back to the rights issue. Sony don’t want to let them slip away so a reboot is their only option.

As for Raimi, there is talk he will now be turning his attention to World of Warcraft, which i’m quite looking forward too. Raimi has wanted to get his hands on a fantasy film for a while, and it has the word ‘epic’ written all over it.

In the meantime, Sony said they would be releasing more information about the Spider-Man reboot in the near future. They need to hire a director, if they haven’t been talking to some already, and they of course need to find a young teenage male actor to play Peter Parker 2.0. Any suggestions?

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We knew last week when filming was halted that things weren’t going well with Spider-Man 4, however Tobey Maguire didn’t seem too worried about it. In fact he said he was “excited” and that the delay was just a “process”.

Well we have some bad news (or good) depending on your view, as Nikki Finke is reporting that Spider-Man 4 has been scrapped, Tobey Maguire, Sam Raimi and Kirsten Dunst are out, and a reboot is under-way:

Mike Fleming and I have just confirmed that Sony Pictures decided today to reboot the Spider-Man franchise after Sam Raimi pulled out of Spider-Man 4 because he felt he couldn’t make its summer release date and keep the film’s creative integrity. This means that Raimi and the cast including star Tobey Maguire are out. There will be no Spider-Man 4. Instead, the studio will focus on a reboot script by Jamie Vanderbilt with a new director and a new cast. All this took place today at meeting on the lot today. An official Sony Pictures news release about it is expected.

My sources tell me that Raimi told Sony Pictures: “I can’t make your date. I can’t go forward creatively.” And, so, once he said “That’s it”, Sony Pictures co-chairman Pascal and Columbia Pictures’ Matt Tolmach decided they didn’t want to replace him and instead chose to reboot the franchise. Insiders also tell me that Tobey Maguire heard the news in a phone call with Amy today. I’m told Tobey wasn’t upset. “He’s made 3 great Spider-Man movies. He’s done really well. But he’s the kind of guy who, if Sam wanted to go forward, would have been there for Sam and the studio. Absolutely.”

I’m actually pretty disappointed by this. I was looking forward to Spider-Man 4, and it’s way too early for a reboot. Why couldn’t Sony just release the film in the summer of 2012 instead of scrapping the whole thing?

As to where the reboot will take Peter Parker, Sony tweeted this little nugget of info:

Spider-Man: Summer 2012: Peter Parker is going back to high school when the next Spider-Man hits theaters in the summer of 2012.

Oh dear…

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Earlier this week we learned that Spider-Man 4 would not begin filming in March as originally planned due to script problem. This was swiftly followed by Thor and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides shifting releases dates as they assumed Spider-Man wouldn’t be able to make it’s May release, which it probably won’t. However Tobey Maguire recently spoke to The Associated Press and said that we will still be seeing Peter Parker in 2011.

“Like anything, it’s a process,” Maguire said Thursday. “We’re just in the midst of the process. We have a lot of great stuff in terms of story and script. We’re just trying to dial it in and get it ready as quickly as possible. Of course, these movies are a very big undertaking and take a lot more time than a drama or something more straightforward.”

Marvel Studios spokesman Paul Pflug declined to comment on reports that production had stalled amid script revisions.

Maguire, who has played Peter Parker in all three films, said the plan is to still release the movie in 2011, but wasn’t more specific about the date. Whatever happens, he’s enthusiastic about Spidey’s future.

“Not only do I have specific ideas, but the ideas are evolving on the page,” he said. “It’s all happening right now. It’s all sort of coming together. It’s very exciting to me. I think the evolution of the character is really exciting, to be rooted in the history of what we’ve done already and to have a continuity, yet have a progression or evolution.”

I think Sony will still try and aim for a summer 2011 release, possibly June/July if they are able to get the script sorted.

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According to Deadline Hollywood, IESB and Variety all is not well in Spideyland. Sony and the team were originally aiming to start filming in February/March, however according to their sources some people are not happy with the script, such as director Sam Raimi, and filming will most likely be pushed back until it can be sorted. Alvin Sargent who worked on the second and third films is the latest writer to work on the script, following David Koepp, James Vanderbilt and Gary Ross.

The problems apparently surround the villain(s). We heard around a month ago that John Malkovitch was in talks to play The Vulture, and Anne Hathaway was negotiating to play The Vulturess (or something like that).

Raimi is insisting that John Malkovich play the villain, so that won’t change. But I do hear that it’s now unlikely Anne Hathaway will be cast. “I’m not so sure we’re going in that direction,” an insider told me recently. Sony had been hot for her until bigwigs realized she’d cost too much and they probably don’t need “such a big star” for the pic, I’m told.

Spider-Man 4‘s release date is still May 2011, however the longer it takes to sort out the script and get cameras rolling, the likelihood that the release is pushed back increases.

Sam Raimi knows what mistakes were made regarding the villains in Spider-Man 3, so pushing the films back a few months will be worth it if we get a film better than the last outing, with less overcrowding in the villain department.

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Yesterday Latino Review got a ‘scoop’ which said that Tobey Maguire and his agency were in early talks for him to play Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. After I read this my first thought was obviously Spider-Man 4. Sam Raimi recently said they were aiming to start shooting in March, and Peter Jackson said last week that The Hobbit is on track to start filming in the first half of 2010. If this rumor is true that would give Tobey Maguire 2-3 months to film Spider-Man 4, which wouldn’t be possible considering filming on Spider-Man 3 took 6 months.

Thankfully this rumour has been cleared up by a few places. TheOneRing.net confirmed with their source that it wasn’t true, and Movieline asked Maguire s publicist who said that this news was false.

As you were.

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As Gwen Stacy, played by Bryce Dallas Howard, wasn’t killed off in Spider-Man 3 that leaves the door open for the character to return in Spider-Man 4. But will she? Howard spoke to ComingSoon recently and spoke about the possibility, although she has yet to be contacted regarding the role.

Q: Will your character Gwen have a big role in “Spider-Man 4?”
Bryce Dallas Howard: Oh goodness! I don’t know. I mean, it was really made clear to me when we all did “Spider-Man 3″ that it was entirely possible that a character could come back or a character could not and this could be just a specific plotline to that film because there’s so many stories in the comic book series and you want to pack as much in as possible so it’s truly up to Sam, up to, you know, the writers and the people who have done such an amazing job protecting that franchise and choosing the best storylines for audiences and I’m a fan first. I had an incredible time working with them but more than anything what I want is for that franchise to just continue to kick butt and to really appease the really really really loyal fans, so, including myself.

Q: Have you been approached about the next film?
Howard: No, no. No, I haven’t.

Filming is scheduled to begin in March, so if she hasn’t been contacted yet then she probably doesn’t have a significant role in the film, if at all.

In the meantime Bryce Dallas Howard will be appearing The Twilight Saga: Eclipse as Victoria next summer and if the Terminator rights get sorted out there is a chance we could be seeing her as Kate Connor in the future.

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We have some new Spider-Man 4 rumours today courtesy of Movieline who say that John Malkovitch is in talks to play The Vulture and Anne Hathaway, who was apparently in talks with producers last month, will play The Vulturess.

The Vulture has the ability to fly due to wings which are attached to him via a harness. He also uses these wings as weapons to attack his foes, such as Spider-Man. The Vulture was originally going to be in Spider-Man 3 and Sir Ben Kingsley was apparently confirmed for the role, however the powers that be wanted Venom in the film so the character was cut. Personally, I would prefer The Lizard as the main villain, but I suppose The Vulture would be cool too.

…The Vulturess on the other hand is what will annoy Spider-Man fans if this turns out to be true. A few weeks ago actresses such as Rachel McAdams, Julia Stiles and Anne Hathaway were rumoured to be in talks to play Felicia Hardy aka Black Cat. However, according to Movieline Felicia Hardy does not turn into Black Cat in the film, she becomes a new made up character called The Vulturess, who one can assume is the daughter of The Vulture.

None of this is confirmed so take it with a pinch of salt for now. Personally I don’t think there is much truth to it, but we’ll probably get confirmation one way or the other soon.

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