Of course since the news dropped Big Shiny Robot -just like all the other nerd and geek sites out there- has been a buzz about the cancellation of Spider-Man 4. Some are happy about the announcement of a reboot, some are upset, some are right down the middle.
A regular reader of ours, “Jerk-Bot” sent us an e-mail the other day. The e-mail included a link to an article on moviehole.com that talks about the reasons behind the cancellation, the direction Spider-Man 4 was heading, and the fact that a reboot was already on deck in the event that this breakdown happened. I really encourage you to go read the rather lengthy article over at Moviehole; essentially all of these “rumors” about The Vulture, The Vulturess, Pete and MJ having a kid – they may have actually been true after all. I’m not quite sure who or what this guy’s sources are, but he seems to have some insight.
“Jerk-bot” was nice enought to list the main points of the article that you can check out right below. You can read the full thing at Moviehole!
*Raimi, Maquire, and Dunst were all on-board and committed to the fourth movie. John Malcovitch and Anne Hathaway were already cast as the father-daughter villains of Adrian Toomes and Felicia Hardy respectively.
*Raimi believed he was allowed to have complete creative control and Sony apparently agreed.
*However, the studio then insisted that Anne Hathaway’s character of Felicia Hardy be “The Vultress,”–yes, that was indeed true, apparently–even though, by this point, Hathaway already walked out of the project.
*There were FIVE different writers working on this script.
*Peter and MJ were, I guess, married and have a baby when the film begins.
*Adrian Toomes, as the Vulture, was going to be the new Editor at the Daily Bugle.
*The reboot script was already written (apparently more “Dark Knight” and without “the fluff”) and was part of Sony’s back-up plan, especially since they believed Raimi, Maquire, and Dunst were still uncertain about returning for a fourth film. Not to mention that, according to Sony’s contract, if they do not continue to make Spider-Man movies, then those rights immediately go to Marvel and also Disney.
*Raimi walked once he realized he wouldn’t make the deadline for the 2011 release (due to all the “creative differences,”), so Sony went ahead with their “Plan B reboot” option.
BSR followed a lot of these rumors but none of them ever got as far as to be “confirmed”. If even half of this is true, then I am that much more glad that Spider-Man is getting the reboot. Seriously?! MJ and Pete have a baby?! Guh.