Someone’s getting ahead of themselves and or smells principals players jumping ship. Sony Pictures has rehired James Vanderbilt to scribe two more sequels for the “Spiderman” franchise which will take the grand total to six.
Vanderbilt wrote the original script for the upcoming fourth installment before Pulitzer-Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire and Gary Ross of “Seabiscuit” fame were brought on for rewrites.
What makes this recruitment so intriguing and quite possibly frustrating is that director Sam Raimi reportedly “didn’t embrace all of Vanderbilt’s ideas for[ ‘Spidey 4’] but execs at Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios have.” Have they serious not learned anything from “Spiderman 3”? A power struggle between director and studio took place during the development of that film where Raimi originally wanted to focus solely on the villain eventually played by Thomas Haden Church (Sandman) until the studio forced his hand into involving fan-favorite Venom, played by Topher Grace. And we all know how that turned out, right? Even Raimi has blamed the studios.
Furthermore, it is unclear whether the director and his entourage of actors, including Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, are even willing to return after the fourth film.
The two new sequels apparently involve an interconnected storyline but with Raimi attached to helm a “World Of Warcraft” film after “Spiderman 4” and already unsatisfied with Vanderbilt’s input, it sounds like he wouldn’t return for a two-parter that Vanderbilt has mapped out. It appears that the studio isn’t optimistic either — already bracing itself for a talent exodus as Vanderbilt’s arc is reportedly set up as a potential rebooter. Ugh.
The bottom line though seems to be that all this stems from one thing: money. Sony apparently isn’t satisfied that it is having to wait three to four years for a huge money-maker like “Spiderman” to churn out a new film. In having Vanderbilt write two more films, they are hoping to speed things up, seemingly with or without Raimi, by laying out a complete blueprint out on the table for potential suitors.
To add another spanner in the works, sources at Variety also claim that the “Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark” musical is “too important to the “Spider-Man” partners to be tabled” despite reports of its inevitable failure. So you’re willing risk the whole credibility and viability of the film franchise for money by forcing the hand of your talent but when it comes a musical that is destined to cost you millions, it’s “too important” to cut your losses?
Production on the fourth ‘Spidey’ film is nevertheless set to being production February of next year for a May, 2011 release. [BFDealMemo]