Vulture is reporting that Sony is about to announce a deal with Marc Webb to direct the next three Spider-Man movies. I guess he didn’t want to go back to Sundance after all.
The column notes that Sony’s Amy Pascal has been hot for Webb for a while, and he was on the shortlist for Moneyball after they fired Soderbergh from it (hey, what’s this? A pattern?!?). Vulture thinks they’re nailing Webb in for three, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find that the actors are getting much more sticky contracts – possibly the standard Marvel Studios nine picture deal.
Oh well. My anger at the way Sony treated Sam Raimi and the way they treated the franchise is slowly giving way to jaded apathy. Expect lots of info in the coming weeks that shows my initial fears about the new franchise were well founded. Welcome to Smallville, Spider-Man style.
UPDATE: Sony has confirmed that Webb is hired.