surprised a lot of press this weekend when he revealed that Columbia Pictures intends for "Spider-Man 3" to be the final film in the series. Seems, Sony's film head Amy Pascal has made it clear that she wants a definitive finale and so all the loose threads from the last two films must be tied up. So what does that mean story wise? Raimi spoke to LatinoReview about the possibilities and what that might mean for the Harry Osborn/Hobgoblin arc
"I'm not sure what's in Harry's mind. I'm trying to figure that out right now. It's like if you blamed someone for the death of your father all these years and someone who was supposedly this hero, vigilante, and then you realized that your father was a mass murderer, it might change things...As much of a responsibility as I have to the fans of the comic books, I also have an equal responsibility to be true to the intelligence of the character as portrayed in the Spider-Man movies".
Despite Pascal's intentions, Raimi seemed keen on working on further Spidey movies if he were allowed to but will concede to her wishes for now - "One thing that Amy Pascal told me was that she wants to make this a proper ending to the Spider-Man saga. I'd like to keep directing Spider-Man movies but I think she's thinking that the audience feels they want to see one more and no more. They want to have a proper ending to the story now. So I think maybe she's right, and so I'm approaching it under her guidance and that's how I'm trying to think of this film as the end".
for more info http://www.latinoreview.com/intervie...onspidey3.html
Interesting. And unfortunate. If they were able to maintain the quality, I think a Spiderman 4 would have been a good idea, and (based on my limited understanding of comic book history, entirely gained from a friend's reference book on Spiderman) that would have been the place for the Hobgoblin. I could accept Harry at the end of 2 would not become the Hobgoblin, but the knowledge he gained about his father would probably send him to a very dark place as he begins to question everything about his world. Once there, it would probably not take much to push him into instability, and then into Hobgoblin for a great final episode in a four-film series. That would work.
But, if they are forcing it to end at 3, then they have to leave out the Hobgoblin, which would be a shame as that is where they had been leading up to.
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I'd take this with a grain of salt. Spidey 3 isn't even scheduled to start filming until January 2006, which is something like thirty years away in film-development time, and I doubt that either Sony or Marvel will be particularly interested in not having Spider-movie money coming in. Whether the same cast and creative crew will still be involved is an open question, but I doubt that anyone is definitively ruling out Spider-Man 4.
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Perhaps Sony feels making this a trilogy will cement the Spidey films' status as "new classics", instead of letting the series run on and on, slowly diluting itself. While I would gladly gobble up whatever amount of spidey films they throw at me, I have to admire this move. They'll probably close off the current story arc and revisit the Spidey universe sometime in the next decade.
As for how to end things... Here's my suggestion:
Spoiler:
Do "The Death of Gwen Stacy" storyline, with MJ taking Gwen's role. I don't know if it'd be wise to end the trilogy on such a sad note, but it could make for a great, great film.
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If SPIDER-MAN 3 makes anything like the kind of money 2 did, anyone who thinks the series -in some form or another- will end there doesn't have much understanding of the movie business.
Yeah right, these films do what 300 mil a piece total or something. There is NO WAY they will stop at three...as long as the sequels keep bringing in cash!
Overseas grosses put each film at nearly a billion.
Sure she says that, but considering Columbia's past, I have a feeling that money is more important than being "noble"...by ending the series on a high note because.... duh... it's a movie company.
If SPIDER-MAN 3 makes anything like the kind of money 2 did, anyone who thinks the series -in some form or another- will end there doesn't have much understanding of the movie business.
What you said, Anthony! The studio might or might not be able to talk the principals into returning after 3 [such as Tobey Maguire, Spidey himself] without a huge raise and/or a bigger share of the gross.
BUT, if they handle it intelligently, not something Hollywood is particularly noted for, the movie franchise could go on for quite a while. If they have to go the James Bond route and re-cast the leads well, and intelligently, (still not a Hollywood trait) I think they could pull it off. Spider-man has not had this huge a cult following for this many years for it to suddenly fizzle out and disappear. The movies are almost a separate franchise in and of themselves, and as noted by posters above, a huge cash cow.
If this lady succeeds with her plan to stop such a cash cow in its tracks, I don't see her having much of a future in the movie business. It might be another case of a business kicking itself forever for making a stupid move, such as M&M is still doing for not allowing its product to be placed in E.T. (Reece's Pieces, on the other hand, probably gave a huge bonus and/or promotion to the person who told Spielberg, "Why not?" especially considering how well the sales of Reece's Pieces took off after E.T.)
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