Spider-Man 4: July 3rd, 2012 - Page 5

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

Agreed, I think they should go with a new director and a new cast entirely.

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

I don't care who's in this flick as long as Kirsten Dunst isn't.

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

Look like they're going for that Venom spin-off and why not? He's some of the reason why Spider-Man 3 opened to being #1 of all time.

Sony Eyeing Spider-Man Spinoff - ComingSoon.net

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

If this comes to pass, I hope they give it a more beastly voice when in symbiote form. It just was stupid to me when Venom sounded just like Topher Grace. Not that the thought of this is appealing in the slightest.

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

I like the idea of taking Venom out of the Spiderman movies and into its own movie that I can skip.

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

Great article.

You can bet that both Maguire and Raimi got sick contracts to return. Kirsten Dunst is also looking at snagging the fattest deal of her career if Sony is serious about not replacing her.

Shooting back to back will be better cost wise with Sony essentially getting two movies for the (massive) price of one out of the principle players. Vanderbilt's script was rumored to be a two-parter and it looks as if it was the best pitch Sony received and the one that both Maguire and Raimi signed off on.

My only wish is that the mistakes made with Spidey 3 are avoided with Spidey 4 (and 5). With "The Dark Knight" recently becoming the second biggest hit in history, Sony didn't sit idle too long. They're getting another installment of their biggest franchise back into theaters as soon as humanly possible.

A summer 2011 date would also put Spidey 4 in competition with the next Batman movie. I can already hear fans of both franchises sharpening their knives for "battle".

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

I find this to be very welcome news. I felt Spidey 3's greatest weakness was its pedestrian-like script. While Raimi and his brother may have had something interesting going in, studio pressure led to a very lazily plotted movie that felt like something more suited for the Fantastic Four franchise. I'd like to see Raimi and everyone get a chance (or two) to redeem themselves. But has anyone involved ever even stepped up and acknowledged the fact that Spider-Man 3 wasn't good?

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

Not publicly.

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

Why would they? It made tons of money, so the studio was happy with it.

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

Worldwide, Spidey 3 is the most successful entry of the franchise, pulling in just under $891 million. While the movie is widely seen as the weakest of the three, that didn't stop it from raking in a lot of money. Similar to the Star Wars Prequels being widely considered pale in comparison to the Original Trilogy, yet still going on to become huge box office successes.

Still, Sony will no doubt be working from a much stronger script this time, while director Sam Raimi has retained more creative control on the next movie(s).

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

For a film series that seems to care so much about the fans, they didn't seem to care when everyone hated the movie. Usually these comic book movies are made with the fans in mind and have some sort of outreach after they come out. Maybe an interview with the star or director talking about the audience reaction. After the reaction to "Superman Returns" wasn't so stellar, Brian Singer had to defend the movie and promised to make the next one more action packed.

I got the sense from the Spidey camp that they really did believe they were making special movies. What went wrong? I reckon he knows it wasn't the best, but Raimi has yet to publicly acknowledge that the movie was a disappointment. While I think there's stuff to like about "Spider-Man 3", the general consensus among people I know is that it's awful and they've lost their faith in the franchise. While I don't feel it was that bad, it was a huge drop in quality from its predecessor and I think the fan community could use a little reassurance from the filmmakers that they know they've messed up and plan to make the next two better.

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

Maybe he was happy with the movie. I thought Spider-Man 3 was the weakest of the three but I hope that if he was happy with the final product that he couldn't care less what other people thought of it.

And as has been said, it made almost $900 million so somone liked it.

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

Raimi did allude to the fact that Venom was sort of forced on him for the third movie. Originally, it was only going to be Sandman and Goblin 2 that were the villains, but the producers (namely Avi Arad) "insisted" that Venom be put into the movie for the "fans". Raimi resisted at first because it's known that he's not a big fan of the Venom character, but Sony backed Arad because Venom had "big toy sale potential".

The movie came off very disjointed because (as someone else stated) there were just too many cooks in that kitchen. Raimi had relative creative control on the first two movies (especially the second one because the first was such a big hit), but Spidey 3 was a movie that was made by committee. I seriously doubt that will happen with the next two movies.

While Sony basked in the worldwide grosses of the movie, Spidey 3 didn't perform where they wanted it to domestically as it became the first movie of the series not to top the $350 million mark domestically. What's more distressing was it posted the biggest opening weekend in history at the time with its $151.1 million debut.

Sony execs believed that the movie would end up topping the $400 million mark after that big opening, but the movie sort of fell apart after that first weekend. What saved it was how well it performed overseas, something the studio was even surprised at as it easily bested the intonational grosses of the first two movies. Spidey 3 pulled in a whopping $554.3 million overseas compared to the $418.0 million and $410.2 million the first two films earned respectively.

With villains like Lizard, Kraven, Rhino, Mysterio, Electro, Vulture, Hobgoblin, Scorpion, Shocker, Man-Wolf, Jackal, Kingpin, and Carnage still in Spidey's arsenal of baddies, this franchise still has an extreme amount of juice left in it.

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

Well, Carnage is too similar to Venom (and is hinted at to appear in the Venom spin-off), Kingpin cannot appear due to rights (he can only be seen in Daredevil films, the same goes for Ben Urich, and such) and we don't really need another Goblin, within four films, do we?
The Vulture was supposed to appear in part three, I think, and was supposed to be played by Ben Kingsley. Lizard is of course hinted at in the previous installments (I actually would like to see Dylan Baker's transformation into Lizard. Could be fun) so that would make an obvious choice.
I just hope Sam Raimi has the sense to not put a silly dance number in his movie. He said many times he's a fan of the comics, but what he was doing there was just plain wrong.

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

Really? Geez, I didn't even know there was a Spiderman 3 until I saw this thread.

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

Well, I know a few people that either didn't watch the previous films or didn't care for it, but were there opening weekend b/c they wanted to see Venom on the big screen

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

I keep hoping for Electro as the villain. I always loved his outfit, especially the "lightning" mask.

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

There was a quote from someone in one of these stories about Raimi and Maguire signing on that said, "If we told you who the villain was, you'd know who was playing him."

Dylan Baker?

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

It'll very likely be the Lizard. The only question I have is will he be the sole villain or will Kraven the Hunter also be brought in? Spidey 3 felt too crowded with them trying to work in storylines for three baddies, but I think Raimi and co. can handle two.

Filming is slated to begin in the fall of '09 for a May 2011 launch. And from the sounds of it, the studio does intend to shoot 4 and 5 back-to-back.

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

Ka-ching!

Spider-Man Tobey Maguire spins deal for fatherhood - Times Online

IN A victory for working fathers in Hollywood, the actor Tobey Maguire has been granted “family time” with his young daughter as part of an unprecedented deal to star in the next two Spider-Man movies.

Maguire was willing to shoot Spider-Man 4 and 5 back-to-back over six months next year but insisted he should take early mornings and evenings off so he could play with his “favourite blonde”, Ruby Sweetheart, who is 22 months old.

The 33-year-old actor is expected to earn a record $50m (£28m) in salary and profit shares from the two films, substantially more than Keanu Reeves earned when he shot the last two Matrix films back-to-back. Reeves complained that it left him exhausted.

The first three Spider-Man films grossed £1.5 billion and are still producing spin-offs, including a forthcoming Broad-way musical with songs by Bono, the Irish rock star.

Until recently it was uncertain whether Maguire would put on the Spider-Man suit again, and Sony had drawn up a list of alternative actors before Maguire’s agents came back to the negotiating table.

Sony, which declined to comment, is thought to have been wary of allowing “family time” because it could set a precedent. Finally its chairman, Amy Pascal, herself a mother, stepped in, saying six months without family time would not be fair on any parent.

In the next few days Sony is expected to reveal whether Maguire’s ex-girlfriend Kirsten Dunst will be returning as his on-screen love interest, Mary Jane Watson. Dunst, 26, has recently talked about a struggle with clinical depression.

Some critics have mocked the current generation of Hollywood actors as “boy-men”. Steve McQueen’s widow Barbara said she could not imagine him asking for “family time” when making The Great Escape. Like McQueen, Maguire came from a troubled background. He planned to be a chef until his mother, an aspiring scriptwriter, gave him $100 to take acting rather than cooking lessons to make sure he “got to know the world”. It worked.

Maguire rose to fame with his boyhood friend Leonardo DiCaprio and both became renowned playboys. At 19, however, Maguire checked into rehab. Today he is a teetotal vegetarian.

“Tobey admits he is obsessive-compulsive about everything he does, and raising Ruby is no different,” a friend said last week. “There’s no way Tobey would allow work, no matter how well paid, to get between him and Ruby, and Sony realised that.”--John Harlow

Expect Sam Raimi's deal to also be extremely fat. The same goes for Kirsten Dunst should she return.

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

It's got to be hard to turn down that kind of money. I would expect Dunst to be back or at least make a cameo.

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

Not that I'm totally fit or anything, but I hope that Tobey hits the gym a little harder this time. His double chin in 3 wasn't very Spidey-like.

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

Kirsten Dunst looks to be back as well...

Kirsten Dunst "in" for Spider-Man 4 - ComingSoon.net

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

Elizabeth Banks is a "legitimate movie star?" Spider-Man's the only thing I know her from and I didn't even know her name.

I don't care about Betty Brant, but I hope Peter and MJ are married by the end of Spider-Man 5. Take that, Joe Q! You and Mephisto can go pound sand. Seriously, it'd be great to see what they'd do with the comic if they weren't suddenly trying to tie an unmarried Peter to the movies' unmarried Peter.

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

Banks is huge right now. She's starring in "W" as Laura Bush, has top billing with Seth Rogen in Kevin Smith's Zack & Miri and has a third picture coming this fall, Role Models. She also had a very memorable role in The 40 Year Old Virgin.

Check out this feature on her from the latest issue of EW:
Elizabeth Banks: Fall's First Lady | Elizabeth Banks | Movie Spotlight | Movies | Entertainment Weekly | 1

re: Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011

I don't think I'd call her "huge" until mom and dad know her name. She's a great character actress but her name doesn't bring in people... yet.. until she headlines a film on her own.