It's not entirely out with the old and in with the new when it comes to Columbia Pictures' controversial Spider-Man reboot.
The studio earlier this year made the decision to scrap plans for a fourth film in director Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire's web-slinger series, and brought in, ironically, Marc Webb ((500) Days of Summer) to helm a brand new series, and revisit Peter Parker's teenage 'growing pains'. While Jamie Vanderbilt (Zodiac) was also hired to write the script, Heat Vision says veteran Spider-Man scribe Alvin Sargent has rejoined the franchise to polish Vanderbilt's work.
Like Marvel's main man Stan Lee, who keeps popping up in cameos, Sargent will remain a constant in the theatrical Spider-Man universe, having done an uncredited re-write on the original in 2002, and co-writing both sequels in 2004 and 2007.
Sargent has been around the Hollywood scene since the early '50s when he had a small role in From Here To Eternity (1954). More recently, he was the writer responsible for Ordinary People (1980) directed by Robert Redford, Nuts (1987) starring Barbara Streisand, What About Bob? (1992) starring Bill Murray, and Hero (1992) with Dustin Hoffman.
Heat Vision says the new Spider-Man is "rumored to be more emotionally anchored and realistic than the previous movies". It adds, "word is that Peter Parker will be a 17-year-old high school kid struggling with shifting hormones and an outsider status". Again. It makes you wonder if turning back to the now 83-year-old Sargent is the right move. Then again, rebooting the entire Spider-Man movie series is a little surprising. It has certainly left many fans scratching their heads.
While the most recent big screen offering was a let-down for fans, with its convoluted story, it still made a whopping $336 million at the US box office, to follow Spider-Man 2's $373 million and Spider-Man's $403. They are each fourth, third and second respectively when it comes to a list of the superhero genre's biggest money earners. It just seems another blatant grab for cash - particularly considering it hasn't even been a decade since the first burst onto the scene. Do we really need to see how a young Peter Parker copes with new-found bodily fluid projectiles again so soon?
Columbia wants to begin filming soon with a view to having the film ready for a 2012 release. Now they just need to settle on a new Peter Parker.
