I’m not sure that I am happy to report this, but it appears Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire, and Kirsten Dunst are returning to the Spider-Man franchise. Is it to make amends for the poorly received [critically, not financially] Spider-Man 3 and end on a good note, is it money, or do they just love making time-intensive costly movies about CGI fellows ejaculating webs onto strangers?
Honestly… I think it has to be kinda neat to have the keys to kingdom in one of the most robust franchises in history, so I’ll side with good intentions on the still wonderful Sam Raimi’s part.
That said, I’d much rather see the man stretching in new directions and to many readers’ surprise, ones that DO NOT include Spider-Man or Bruce Campbell.
With that in mind, news came out today that the principal [though Dunst is wholly expendable] team is back and they’re bringing Pulizter Prize winning David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole) on board to rewrite the next one.
On one hand, I think a Grit delivery route is about as important as a Pulitzer in the Spidey pantheon and another is that the stakes have been raised in the wake of The Dark Knight and Iron Man [whether you agree with me or not]. Maybe it’s a good call, because the old standard of “Go To” guys (Koepp, Vanderbilt, Etc.) has gotten boring as hell.
This is it for Spider-Man. If they pull it off, the franchise will have legs that’ll make Tina Turner jealous. If not, consider it a thankful bullet in the head of a series facing serious bloat.
I don’t see the downside in this.