Hey there bots! I have what I consider some good Spider-Man 4 news.

First off, scifiwire.com had a little chat with Sam Raimi, and he says that in order to hit the May 6, 2011 release date the script needs to be pretty much done in the next 3 months or so:

Sam Raimi, who will direct Spider-Man 4, told SCI FI Wire that the film’s script, by David Lindsay-Abaire (Inkheart), should be ready by summer. “Right now, David Lindsay-Abaire is working on a draft of the new picture,” Raimi said in an exclusive telephone interview on Monday. “And he’s hard at work, and hopefully we’ll see something in about three months.”

Raimi said that the film has to make its previously announced May 6, 2011, release date. “We have to make the release date, and on all of these pictures, the Spider-Man films—and I’m sure it’s the same as with many of the other bigger-budgeted films—they have release dates far in advance of a screenplay,” he said. “So it’s about getting it ready the best you can in time for the first day of production. That’s what we’ve always done, and that’s what we’ll try to do again.”

Tobey Maguire has reportedly signed on to reprise the title role. Raimi added that it’s a bit early to discuss other casting, though he does plan to reassemble the core cast, which includes Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane. “At this point I do, but it’s really … all going to be dependent upon the script, and I’ll just have to wait and see,” Raimi said. “I don’t want to put the cart before the horse, but hopefully we can service the story in the screenplay, and whatever it demands, hopefully we’ll be its eager servants.”

One thing that has been brought up before is that Raimi’s hand was forced with the decision to make Venom one of the villains in Spider-Man 3 by Arad. I think we can all agree that Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 are some of the best superhero cinema to date, then we have a sudden slump in the series with the third installment. I have been notoriously forgiving of Spider-Man 3 and eagerly await a rebound with a fourth, so I was excited to see this:

The helmer also told Empire magazine he will have full control over the fourth installment – something he didn’t have on the third. “They really gave me a tremendous amount of control on the first two films, actually,” he said. “But then there were different opinions on the third film and I didn’t really have creative control, so to speak.”

He added that “The best way for me to move forward on films, is that I’ve got to be the singular voice that makes the creative choices on the film. I love Spider-Man so much that I’d like to continue telling Spider-Man stories. But only under those circumstances where I think I can honour him.” (courtesy superherohype.com)

Raimi has always expressed that he has had a love for Spider-Man as a character since he was just a kid reading the comics. It was great to have a FAN of the comics directing the first two movies with so much creative control to do the justice Spidey deserves, then something went south with number three.

If this is all the case, if Raimi is back in control, I think we can all be slightly more cautiously-optimistic about a 4th installment.