UPDATED: Marc Webb Will Direct New 'Spider-Man' Reboot
It seems the rumors were true
I just received the official press release announcing Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer) as the director of the next chapter in the Spider-Man franchise, set to hit theaters summer 2012, as it was jointly announced today by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios. Webb is quoted in the release saying:
"This is a dream come true and I couldn't be more aware of the challenge, responsibility, or opportunity. Sam Raimi's virtuoso rendering of Spider-Man is a humbling precedent to follow and build upon. The first three films are beloved for good reason. But I think the Spider-Man mythology transcends not only generations but directors as well. I am signing on not to 'take over' from Sam. That would be impossible. Not to mention arrogant. I'm here because there's an opportunity for ideas, stories, and histories that will add a new dimension, canvas, and creative voice to Spider-Man."
Deadline.com addresses New York Magazine's earlier report saying Webb was given the franchise keys and a three-picture deal is inaccurate as much as there is only standard language about sequels in the deal. The release says nothing of sequels and only mentions the one film.
Perhaps quelling some fan concern over a guy who directed a romantic-comedy taking over their beloved comic franchise, Stan Lee was quoted in the release saying, "I'm excited that Sony has chosen a director with a real penchant and understanding for the character. This is a brave, bold direction for the franchise, and I can't wait to see what Marc comes up with next."
Webb is a hot commodity following the break-out success of the Golden Globe-nominated 500 Days of Summer and many fans have been excited at the prospect of him directing because they want Summer star Joseph Gordon-Levitt to play a high school-aged Peter Parker in a more contemporary setting, as a teenager grappling with normal teen problems while also dealing with his superpowers. Considering Levitt is just shy of 29-years-old I'm not sure the "high school-aged" part of that storyline will exactly work out.
Rumor had it Sony wanted to make the now-abandoned Spider-Man 4 for $230 million, which original franchise director Sam Raimi thought was not enough given his ambitions.
The plan now is to release the new film in the summer of 2012 with production expected to begin later this year. This means there will be a five year gap between Spider-Man films after Spider-Man 3 was released in 2007. Hypothetically taking Joseph Gordon-Levitt out of the running, who do you think should play Peter Parker/Spider-Man?
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Well as you said JGL is a bit too old for the High School Storyline. I really don't know.
Levitt may be 29 but lets face it the guy has a baby face, he could easily pass off for 19-21 which is good enough
something on mtv.com (most reliable resource, i know) said there's rumors of Robert Pattinson being offered the role? Also, as much as I loved 500 Days of Summer, I can't help but feel that this is like offering an action movie to Woody Allen, what about 500 Days screamed "this guy should direct Spider-Man!" unless they're going for the whole Christopher Nolan Batman reboot vibe.
I know they want to start fresh and everything but can will still has some JK Simmons? I couldn't imagine anyone pulling off J Jonah Jameson quite like he does.
@cineJAB: well who knows im optimistic who would of thought that Iron Man screamed hire Jon Favreau after he made Elf
(500)DOS should have won that GG. But it's nice to know he's getting more work.
I'm not sure what to think of this choice, since I've not seen 500 Days of Summer, and… well, he's not directed anything else. Quite the opportunity, considering that movie only made $32 million.
As for Gordon-Levitt, I think putting him back in High School would be kind of creepy. Unfortunately, I don't really know of any high-school age actors that would get me excited in the role Spider-man. They'll have a tough time finding someone known that won't start some bad buzz.
And I agree with Birdbread… I don't know that they can keep him, but J.K. Simmons was great as JJJ.
putting in highschool wouldnt be bad as long as everyone else looks similar to Levitt, if they put him around people who actually look 16 then its creepy
@cineJAB: It's not that Marc Webb's career screams superhero action movie, but he has incredible notoriety in the music video genre. Also, the producers must have loved the youthful feel of (500) Days.
I have my fingers crossed they don't mess this up.
Of course the rumors are true…. Nikki said so
NOT ZAC EFRON!!!!!!! Who knows if he can but Anton Yelchin has a baby face and after seeing Charlie Bartlett he might be able to pull off the little jokes Spider-Man if they want to make him more of a smart-ass I felt he wasn't enough of a smart-ass in the Raimi films
Sounds interesting. Hope it turns out well.
Josh Hutcherson:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1242688/
@Kevin Klawitter: ewwww as sacreligious as this is to me, i wuold rather Zeck Efron over that dweebe, to be honest i would rather see someone too old for a teenager to do it then an actual teenager with no acting chops, JGL for the win
Just go with a unknown personally, plus I'm excited for Webb directing. Now please don't let me down and get that bad taste of SM3 out of my mouth.
I'm excited about the prospect of Marc Webb directing a Spider-Man for the next generation of cinema-goers. (500) Days of Summer was like a breath of fresh air, particularly in the dialogue department, which over the past 2 installments of the franchise have been a major source of annoyance for me. The question is, can he meld great dialogue to impressive visuals?
Huh. Rather a jump for Marc Webb. Let's hope he does something good with the franchise, though I still think the whole thing is one big mistake. I don't want his career to derail because of this.
I'm okay with the choice of director, but I don't really like the high school spin on the Spider-Man story. We all know the origin of Spidey, so we don't care about that anymore. It seems like they are trying too hard to go against the trend of making "dark" superhero movies like Watchmen and The Dark Knight.
I've got a whole new idea all together. I have no knowledge of the comics, so work with me here. I'd like to see a Spider-man that is getting older. You could cast someone older like Bruce Willis in the role, and have him working with his obligations as a father and husband in addition to being Spider-man. He might be slowing down, but has to come back when the situation calls for it. It sounds somewhat similar to The Incredibles, but I think it could work.
I might be reaching, but I'm just tired of reboots and I'm trying to come up with something different.
Drop the High school crap and make him an adult; Joseph Gordon Levitt would be perfect.
Over 230 million? Really Sam? No wonder why the project went bust. That and that Vulturess nonsense. Anything over 200 million is really outrageous in my opinion…
LOGAN LERMAN FTW. Seriously, best person to do it.
I think having Joseph Gordon Levitt as Peter Parker at a college age (21-22) in a university environment would work great.
You'd still be able to establish the school system as a social aspect for the characters, and you'd have the separation from Aunt May which allows you to hone in on the psyche of the character, while establishing those already real relationships and real hardships.
I also think it'd be better if Mary Jane went to a different university than Peter, because it would honestly make the movie work more towards the character. It would establish a line of conflict and drama even if it isn't what we would really 'like' it to be. But I really liked James Franco in those movies and I think he definitely added another dimension to the characters, so I'd like to see what they do with that.
I'm very optimistic. Hopefully, the new Spider-Man film(s) that we get will be on par with Spider-Man 2.
I'm thinking Aaron Johnson would make a good Peter Parker / Spider-Man…. we'll know for sure of his abilities after Kick-Ass comes out. That one does look promising.
Even though he is like 26 or 27 years old… Zach Gilford of TV's Friday Night Lights Series, I think hed be a good Peter Parker… He successfully pulled off being a highschooler on TV and he is a fairly good actor too
marc webb directing spider-man?
WEBB directing SPIDER-man…
WEBB, SPIDER…
SPIDER WEB.
destiny ftw.
I was going to suggest Hutcherson, Lerman, but see I've been beaten to the punch.
This is a really brave move by Sony, letting a guy who has only directed one feature film direct one of their most prized possessions.
Is it because no other director wanted to touch this script which Raimi left over?
I wouldn't be surprised if this whole thing blows up on Sony's faces, because it seems like they are trying to copy the Batman reboot idea hiring an artistic director, and this seems to be a case of Superman Returns.
Anton Yelchin from Star Trek/Terminator Salvation. He would rock it out of the park if Levitt is too old to do it.
Get off the high school thing. Let's not turn Spiderman into a damn Twilight film.
@Andrew Tsoules:
Agreed.
no one on this is giving any ideas on who should play the next spiderman. they're just rambling on about marc webb and how he's no suited to direct. I think ZAC EFFRON would be perfect!!!
While the High School spin sounds bad for me that would indeed rule out JGL because of his age. So in a high school setting Anton Yelchin would be great. He is a good actor (see his episode in Criminal Minds) and his work in Charlie Bartlett was really good.
1. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (non high school setting)
2. Anton Yelchin (high school setting)
I really think that Josh Hutcherson could pull off a handsome spiderman and he is high school aged
@The Pork Chop Express: I completely agree with your idea, though perhaps not for Spider-Man. We have yet to see a comic book focus on an aging character. How awesome would it be to see an aging Batman, a guy who can barely handle fighting crime anymore.
It would be a very risky move for a franchise that has always been more bright and sunny (like Superman before it) and focuses on a just-out-of-highschool superhero, to then transport us 20 or 30 years into that characters future. But, hey, why not right?
I say, try it out on Batman first (after Nolan's 3rd installment) and see what ensues, people might like it.
I like the idea of setting it 20-30 years in the future. But if they want to keep it set in the present, what if they changed it up and had a minority character play Peter Parker? I think that would separate it from other Spidermen and may give them more to work with. So long as they stay away from stereotypes and focus on character, this could work well. I know it wouldn't be a popular choice, but it sure would pique my interest.
@The Jackal:
Actually I think this exactly what Nolan should do with the third film. Base the film on The Dark Knight Returns comic by Frank Miller where Batman comes out retirement. Except in this film Batman comes back after being the "bad-guy." The other great thing about DKR is that Batman comes out of retirement to fight Joker
—SPOILER—
for the last time and if I don't remember it wrong, it ends up with Batman killing The Joker. A perfect continuation from The Dark Knight where The Joker wanted Batman to break his one rule. Since the story is in the future you can get an older actor to play Joker (the Heath Ledger situation is fixed) and Nolan can end his series and then Warner can reboot Batman.
—SPOILER END—
This turned a bit off-topic. I don't see the Spider-Man as a film where the setting is 20-30 years in the future. That would be in my opinion boring considering an old Spidey doesn't have the same punch in the character as an old Batman. Re-boot the film, set it in college, get JGL, and you have a great film. Just cover the old series as Hulk did (the whole how Peter Parker became Spider-Man) and start over.
@The Jackal:
I of course meant try out on Nolan's third in stead of trying out after Nolan is done.
@Andrew Tsoules: YES!!
It's cool to see that Anton Yelchin is getting some love here. He is seriously gonna be a big time player in a few years.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is an amazing actor but I think Jamie Bell would be fantastic in this role.
@Daniel Wolfe: dude's already playing Tintin in at least two movies. Fat chance he'll want to take on another comic book role right now.
It sounds like Sony saw The Dark Knight and the Bourne movies and went, "Oh shit! We're officially out of touch and irrelevant" and had to try getting with the times. Marc Webb is a pretty bland director, so I won't be surprised if this bombs with fans like Superman did.
At this point, it's getting ridiculous even to me, rebooting the entire series when the old one ended not even three years ago. It's like shocking a corpse over and over, trying to get it to walk again.
I think Yelchin will make a better Harry Osborn than a Peter Parker.
As long as the changes include making Peter sharp-witted with a dry sense of humor, Mary Jane feisty and Gwen Stacy as Parker's first love, I'll be happy.
If by setting it in high school years, maybe they mean going off the Ultimate Spiderman universe. That would be pretty cool. I didn't think a comic reboot was going to work, like many with the movie reboot, but I enjoyed the few books I read.
Seth rogen should play spider-man …. ( pause for laughs ) totall seriousness they shouldnt make another spider-man at all IMO. Sam Raimi destroyed the series with the 3rd one and i dont think the 4th one would have done any better. I think they are gunna go for a low key actor not one with much buzz behind him. They better not pick Shia Labeouf he has transformers ( which by the way isnt good) JDL is too good for a role like this either.
@The Pork Chop Express:
Thats actually not a bad idea…
IMO, I think this is going to end up like The Incredible Hulk.