A few days ago the announcement was made official, Spider-Man 4 was scrapped, Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire fired. The franchise will be rebooted. Marc Webb will direct.Let me backtrack a bit. I have been reading comic books since before I can remember and my favorite character since I was six had always been Spider-Man, there’s an everyman quality to the character that makes him immediately relatable and because of this I followed his adventures on and off for decades.
In the late 80’s I discovered Sam Raimi and immediately fell in love with his films, starting with The Evil Dead and never letting go from there.
In 2000 when I first heard he was directing Spider-Man I was ecstatic. I had lived in fear for some years with the rumors of a James Cameron helmed Spidey, played by DiCaprio (thankfully, that never happened).
Finally, in 2002 Sam delivered, with one of the best comic book movies in decades, and though no one can touch Richard Donner’s Superman yet, he came close. One of the most interesting things in Raimi’s Spider-Man 1 and 2 are the similarities they bear with the first two Superman films, some shots are taken straight out of Donner’s films (an obvious homage by Raimi). The storylines are the same, origin, responsibility in the first ones and losing powers/quitting in the second ones. Even the widely panned Spider-Man 3 is a reflection of Superman 3 with its “hero turns bad” storyline (remember the dark, evil Superman?).
Truth is only Sam Raimi had the sheer kinetic energy necessary to pull off a Spider-Man film correctly but there was another essential ingredient to create the perfect Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker. If there was ever someone born to play a part (besides Christopher Reeve) it was Tobey as Spidey.
This perfect mix of director, subject and star gave us two great films and a convoluted though enjoyable third outing. The fourth film would be for Sam Raimi a chance to right all the wrongs brought upon the third movie by studio meddling, he was ready to hold on to the reigns and not let go this time around.
So what happened? Hollywood happened. When Raimi stated his dissatisfaction with the screenplay the problems started. After a series of writing and casting disagreements, in a final show of power by the studio they pulled the plug on the project right from under Raimi’s feet, clearly sending a message to any other rogue directors that might be getting the wrong idea. The message: no matter how big you are or how much money you have made for us we can always replace you. And that’s what they did, shattering the hearts of millions of mouthwatering fanboys who were expecting the best Spidey movie ever, and a return to form by Raimi, as clearly seen in his Drag me to Hell, which, besides being one of the most enjoyable films of 2009, was in itself a way of showing what he can do without studio interference and a fraction of their mega budgets.
The planned reboot which will be directed by the aptly named Marc Webb is supposed to follow the Ultimate Spider-Man (a reboot itself) comic book storyline, meaning, less superheroing and more teen angst. The word gritty has also been thrown around in talks of this new take which makes absolutely no sense, since Webb, I’m assuming, was hired for his excellent and very funny handling of modern romance, (500) Days of Summer, which is very much in tune to Spidey’s original tone.
One thing I can say is I was pleasantly relieved at the news of Webb as director, since the shortlist of possible helmers included James Cameron, David Fincher and Michael effing Bay! So yes, I was quite relieved. I enjoyed (500) Days so much I went to see it twice at the cinema and I can really see how Webb will be able to capture Peter Parker’s mental space on film. What I am skeptical about is the way he will be handling the action and budget but there is always a first time and after his pitch perfect "Summer" he sure deserves the benefit of the doubt. Let’s just hope James Vanderbilt (screenwriter) delivers a decent “non gritty” script.
Well that’s the saga of Spider-Man’s cinematic tangled web so far. Now we’ll just have to wait until 2012 to see the end result and hope for the best.
Though I’m sure he has been told this a million times since he signed up for the reboot
- Marc? Please remember “with great power comes great responsibility”.
Finally, in 2002 Sam delivered, with one of the best comic book movies in decades, and though no one can touch Richard Donner’s Superman yet, he came close. One of the most interesting things in Raimi’s Spider-Man 1 and 2 are the similarities they bear with the first two Superman films, some shots are taken straight out of Donner’s films (an obvious homage by Raimi). The storylines are the same, origin, responsibility in the first ones and losing powers/quitting in the second ones. Even the widely panned Spider-Man 3 is a reflection of Superman 3 with its “hero turns bad” storyline (remember the dark, evil Superman?).
Truth is only Sam Raimi had the sheer kinetic energy necessary to pull off a Spider-Man film correctly but there was another essential ingredient to create the perfect Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker. If there was ever someone born to play a part (besides Christopher Reeve) it was Tobey as Spidey.
This perfect mix of director, subject and star gave us two great films and a convoluted though enjoyable third outing. The fourth film would be for Sam Raimi a chance to right all the wrongs brought upon the third movie by studio meddling, he was ready to hold on to the reigns and not let go this time around.
So what happened? Hollywood happened. When Raimi stated his dissatisfaction with the screenplay the problems started. After a series of writing and casting disagreements, in a final show of power by the studio they pulled the plug on the project right from under Raimi’s feet, clearly sending a message to any other rogue directors that might be getting the wrong idea. The message: no matter how big you are or how much money you have made for us we can always replace you. And that’s what they did, shattering the hearts of millions of mouthwatering fanboys who were expecting the best Spidey movie ever, and a return to form by Raimi, as clearly seen in his Drag me to Hell, which, besides being one of the most enjoyable films of 2009, was in itself a way of showing what he can do without studio interference and a fraction of their mega budgets.
The planned reboot which will be directed by the aptly named Marc Webb is supposed to follow the Ultimate Spider-Man (a reboot itself) comic book storyline, meaning, less superheroing and more teen angst. The word gritty has also been thrown around in talks of this new take which makes absolutely no sense, since Webb, I’m assuming, was hired for his excellent and very funny handling of modern romance, (500) Days of Summer, which is very much in tune to Spidey’s original tone.
One thing I can say is I was pleasantly relieved at the news of Webb as director, since the shortlist of possible helmers included James Cameron, David Fincher and Michael effing Bay! So yes, I was quite relieved. I enjoyed (500) Days so much I went to see it twice at the cinema and I can really see how Webb will be able to capture Peter Parker’s mental space on film. What I am skeptical about is the way he will be handling the action and budget but there is always a first time and after his pitch perfect "Summer" he sure deserves the benefit of the doubt. Let’s just hope James Vanderbilt (screenwriter) delivers a decent “non gritty” script.
Well that’s the saga of Spider-Man’s cinematic tangled web so far. Now we’ll just have to wait until 2012 to see the end result and hope for the best.
Though I’m sure he has been told this a million times since he signed up for the reboot
- Marc? Please remember “with great power comes great responsibility”.
ya lo leí por fin jeje muy bueno muy bueno aunque ya me lo habías platicado, pues sí la próxima película se llamará: "500 days of spidey"
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