Marc Webb is the new director of the Spider-Man franchise. Oddly enough, last night I watched (500) Days of Summer, and as I read this news and type this, I'm watching Army of Darkness. I'm not sure what difference that will make to any of you, but there you have it.
There's not a lot of news to this, which only leaves you to speculate all the more. Have at it.
But first, I bet I know what you're thinking….
UPDATE: Here's the official press release.
CULVER CITY, Calif., January , 2010 – Marc Webb, the director of the Golden Globe nominated Best Picture (500) Days of Summer, will direct the next chapter in the Spider-Man franchise, set to hit theaters summer 2012, it was jointly announced today by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios.
Written by James Vanderbilt, Webb will work closely with producers Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin in developing the project, which will begin production later this year.
Commenting on the announcement, Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Matt Tolmach, president of Columbia Pictures, said, “At its core, Spider-Man is a small, intimate human story about an everyday teenager that takes place in an epic super-human world. The key for us as we sought a new director was to identify filmmakers who could give sharp focus to Peter Parker’s life. We wanted someone who could capture the awe of being in Peter’s shoes so the audience could experience his sense of discovery while giving real heart to the emotion, anxiety, and recklessness of that age and coupling all of that with the adrenaline of Spider-Man’s adventure. We believe Marc Webb is the perfect choice to bring us on that journey.”
Arad and Ziskin added jointly, “Over the years, the Spider-Man comics have been told with bold and creative new writers and artists who have re-calibrated the way audiences see Peter Parker. Marc Webb will do for the new direction of the films what so many visionary storytellers have done with the comic books. He is an incredibly talented filmmaker and we look forward to working closely with him on this new adventure.”
Webb said, “This is a dream come true and I couldn't be more aware of the challenge, responsibility, or opportunity. Sam Raimi's virtuoso rendering of Spider-Man is a humbling precedent to follow and build upon. The first three films are beloved for good reason. But I think the Spider-Man mythology transcends not only generations but directors as well. I am signing on not to ‘take over’ from Sam. That would be impossible. Not to mention arrogant. I'm here because there's an opportunity for ideas, stories, and histories that will add a new dimension, canvas, and creative voice to Spider-Man.”
Stan Lee, co-creator of Spider-Man, added, “I’m excited that Sony has chosen a director with a real penchant and understanding for the character. This is a brave, bold direction for the franchise, and I can’t wait to see what Marc comes up with next.”
Added Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, “The idea of re-imagining the on-screen story for one of the world’s most iconic superheros is sure to deliver an exciting new dimension to Spider-Man fans everywhere. There are volumes of comics and material available to inspire fresh and compelling takes on Peter Parker and his journey as Spidey and we look forward to seeing this come alive onscreen.”
Marc Webb has won acclaim with his film debut (500) Days of Summer. He has several MTV VMAs™ including 2009's Best Director award for Green Day's "21 Guns," 2006 Best Rock Video for AFI’s “Miss Murder,” and Best Group Video for The All-American Rejects’ “Move Along.” The Music Video Production Association honored him in 2006 as the Director of the Year for his work with Weezer, AAR, and My Chemical Romance.
In addition to two Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture (musical or comedy), his first feature film, (500) Days of Summer, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, has been nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Feature. Webb was also awarded the Spotlight Award, which honors outstanding directorial debuts, by the National Board of Review.
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Too old!
(Webb is an interesting choice.)
I wasn’t suggesting him. I am not actually a fan.
I know. I was just getting it out of the way early.
As much as i wouldn’t mind him being spider-man yes i agree Joseph Gordon Levitt is too old. I hope they go with someone younger so they can do spiderman in high school. What about Aaron Johnson he is playing Dave Lizewski (Kick Ass)
Yes, interesting choice.
An up and comer, I suppose. Perhaps with something to prove.
Maybe they’ll cast someone with Ultimate Peter Parker’s hair.
If he was in full on T2 John Connor mode, then he’d be a close match to LaFuentes Ultimate version of Peter. The hair is a near dead-on match!
You’re watching Army Of Darkness because you are 23 different flavors of awesome. Nuff said.
Music video directors usually make movies that are at least a visual feast and have good action cuts (Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy comes to mind), so it’ll be interesting to see what he does.
As for who’s gonna Peter Parker, as long as Robert Pattinson (who people think will be a good fit, for some reason) isnt him, I’ll be happy. It would be quite glorious is JGL gets the role though.
Please please please don’t put an airhead from High School Musical, Twilight or something of the sort to play Peter Parker. Robert Pattinson fits a glittering (blood)sucker role, not my favourite hero.
@Jarrett i hope not the one thing i dont like about Ultimate SM right now
Ah, I didn’t get that reference at alllll.. lol. Not who I thought it was.
I enjoyed the directing in (500) days of Summer. So that, no worries, what does worry me, is the reported budget is 80 million. Now in the year where we had Moon for 5 million and District 9 was 30 million, it might not be a big deal, but it is an eye brow raiser.
Terrific choice for director! The new Peter will be an unknown.
(500) Days of Summer was great but I can’t remember a damn thing about the directing of that film except for the musical number. Still, the fact that they went with Webb instead of someone who directs mindless action flicks shows me that at least someone at the studio wants this to be a great film.
cool!
i’m interested in that director.
I’m less interested in hearing about speculation for 2 years.
Jason Aaron should play Harry Osborn, Peter should be played by Matt Fraction, and MJ should be Gail Simone. I would see that movie.
80 million budget? If true, that’s crazy! Great films can be made for that, or less, but a huge blockbuster superhero movie on 80 million? Are they shooting it in Toronto or something? (note: nothing wrong with Toronto, but it’ll be a hard double for New York).
@edward from what i hear they’re fast tracking this thing. We should have a teaser trailer by this time next year and at least a fairly good idea of what the movie is going to be like. I can take a year of speculation
Not a fan of 500 Days of Summer sad to say.
But the idea of using his ideas to make a ‘teenage’ Spider-Man film (ala USM) then this is a great pick up.
Is this a total reboot or are they pretending that this is in that time void in Spider-man 1.
I hope it’s a total reboot and we can get Gwen. I doubt they’d do that since she’s not main stream enough.
I also hope they can get Ryan Reynolds or Nathan Fillion to play Peter in High School.
@crucio I was hoping for Chris Pine as high school peter
Heh. Well played.
I would prefer they get an unknown to play Peter. Any word on who the villain would be?
Was so hoping for Wes Anderson. I know it would’ve been a long shot, but if for only just one, it would have been so interesting to see his take on the world.
Tobey Maguire was 26 for the first Spider-Man. JGL will be 29 this year. By Grease logic, he would still work, but I don’t want to see him play highschool again. Let "Brick" be his HS finale.
Nathan Fillion!
Hugh Jackman
The love child of Nathan Fillion and Hugh Jackman.
Check and mate, sir.
Rory Culkin or Christopher Mintz-Plasse.
Are those real suggestions?
i think it’s possible they might go with an unknown to play Peter. In the end people will still see it. It’s Spider-Man
CMP is kinda jokey, but he seems to be playing more action-involved roles with nerdy ties (Kick Ass, Role Models).
My first Culkin thought was Kieron, but Conor was complaining about JGL being too old, so I went with Rory. I remember liking him in Mean Creek.
Hey, what’s Haley Joel Osment doing right now?
The movie will start out with the disclaimer, "Any resemblance to people living or dead is purely accidental … Especially you, Liz Allen… Bitch."
@captbastrd i would love that.
In all honesty I hope they get an unknown for peter. Who should the villain be?I also just realized that J.K. Simmons won’t be back as JJJ. This breaks my heart.
Any avid FNL fan has no right to call JGL too old. No Glee fan either…..
I can love FNL all I want, but i also make plenty of jokes about how old Riggins and Street actually are.
It’s par for the course.
@Gabe The mechanism behind producing TV and film is vastly different. It takes upwards of six years to produce a big budget film trilogy. That’s equivalent to six seasons of a television show. You can get away with fudging high school characters’ ages a bit more with that kind of production schedule.
Jonathan Gordon-Levitt is 28 years old. By the time the third film comes around he’d be around 34. And this is supposed to be about high school age Peter Parker.
@Conor ….so all three films are supposed to be high school?
@Gabe: Well, we don’t even know if there will be three films, and we are, admittedly, getting ahead of ourselves, but these things are taken into consideration in the casting process.
all this talk depresses me. JGL would have been perfect for the first series of films, but he didn’t have enough of a quality track record yet for studio to take a chance on him. Now that he does, he’s "too old" for some people. UGH!
I was not in the mood for 500 Days of Summer when I watched it Sunday night, but it more then won me over in the first 15 minutes. Really, really well done movie, great direction in several moments (especially the party on the apartment roof). I think Webb definitly has the creative chops for the visuals and character driven moments.
Also, I turned to my brothers multiple times throughout the movie and said "…JGL would be a really great Peter Parker." He looks as young as McGuire in Spiderman 1, easy. I’m not saying I wouldn’t like to see a younger cast that actually, y’know, look like they’re in highschool. But if they did go with Levitt, he’d do a great job.
SHIA LABEOUF!!! I’ll go sit in the corner for saying that. I think the first villian will probably be the green goblin again the problem is getting it right so you don’t just have another William DeFoe even though he was fantastic in spider-man
@ anyone who cares to answer
who is FNL? all these abbreviations are annoying the crap out of me
@RoiVampire: Friday Night Lights
@Stepho not sure it’d be a good idea to just redo green goblin for the reboot movie. i can see them them down the line trying to do venom again but having GG in the first of the reboot movies won’t really differentiate from Raimi’s
@Conor Now I feel like moron. I should have known. I was stuck thinking it was an actor.
@stepho I think it would be cool to set up norman in the first one and not have him become the goblin until the very end of the movie as a cliffhanger
Peter Parker should be played by
Aziz Ansari.
And Spider-Man’s foe, naturally THE HUMAN GIANT!
(We call this synergy. Weird synergy, but still synergy.)
According to some, Saoirse Ronan should play Spider-Man because of how Ultimate Spider-Man is drawn right now.
PATRICK FUGIT!!! I’ve been saying it for years. I know at least Paul agrees with me.
Patrick Fugit is 27 right now. Is that too old?
He would have been a great choice ten years ago.
Most worrying thing about this press release… ‘Webb will work closely with producers Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin in developing the project’.
The producers should primarily let the writer and director get on with it without interference. It was Arad’s insistence on inserting Venom into the third movie against Raimi’s wishes that turned that film in the muddled mess it was (there was a disctinct difference in quality been the aspects of the film centered around Sandman and those centred around Venom).
As far as the announcement itself goes, fairly ambivalent about it to be honest. Webb seems an ok choice but I’m still not particularly interested in a reboot back to high school. It seems to be the case now that every incarnation of Spider-man is being de-aged and retrod which i’m just not up for. I would have much rather seen Raimi and co get back to the quality of 1 & 2 without interferance from the producers.
Can’t say I saw this coming, but it’s a very interesting choice. I didn’t think 500 Days was as clever as it thought it was, but it was still very solid, and if Webb can bring the energy he brought to that to Spidey, then hopefully we can get something different from the "original trilogy" (is it okay to call it that?) but still fun and relevant.
I can guarantee now that comic book nerds are going to HATE whoever they choose to play Spidey. I’m certain it will be a studio-friendly choice to bring in audiences. That said, I urge people not to prejudge the film if someone like Zac Efron, Robert Pattison or Daniel Radcliffe is chosen.
In all three of their cases (and in the cases of similar young actors) they are judged based on their one big franchise, and in all three cases they are attempting to distance themselves and move on with their careers. Efron especially, who people despise because he was in a movie that was not made for them.
Um, I may be getting ahead of myself a little here. But you get my point. And I know 90% of comic book nerds will ignore it in rage, when the announcement comes.
what about the potter guy? -> http://thebosh.com/upload/2008/04/21/high_security_to_protect_daniel_radcliffes_private_parts/Daniel%20Radcliffe.jpg
looks like a decent, angsty peter parker to me.
@conor, he always looks like he’s 17 to me. Maybe I just haven’t seen him in a while.
I honestly can not think of anybody that can really pull off the spirit of Peter Parker (just as Tobey did in the last three films) than Joseph Gordon Levitt b/c not only in (500) Days of Summer but also in his other critically praised film The Lookout you can see his qurkiness is very much in tone of Peter Parker so I hope they’ll cast him & maybe pull X-Men 3 FX to make him look younger. I really also hope that they get the Lizard to be a villain b/c we have been robbed of that aspect with the cancellation of SPM 4 so I hope they do Lizard, Scorpion, Rhino, especially Kraven would fit easily with the rest of those villains in the movie. But what about Mary Jane/Gwen Stacy? Shouldn’t the casting of the female lead be just as important as that of Peter Parker since everyone’s probably tired of Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane I would prefer a Gwen Stacy role but I would not know which actresses could do the role. Maybe some girl from Gossip Girl like Blake Lively as Carol Ferris in Green Lantern? Idk
An inspired choice to pick Webb. 500 Days of Summer was a romantic comedy for guys.
I can’t begin to predict who will play Parker or the rest of the cast but I do hope they keep JK Simmons on as JJJ.
I just watched Brick with JGL and he can still convincingly pull off a highschooler. Just sayin’.
@msarsur "Please please please don’t put an airhead from High School Musical, Twilight or something of the sort to play Peter Parker."
Exactly what I’m afraid of. They’ll get some unknown guy that’ll appeal to tweeners. Ugh.
Then again, I simply did not like Tobey Maguire in the role one bit. I thought he was awful in all three films. SOOO wish that Jake Gyllenhaal had gotten it originally.
JGL is probably too old, though as others have pointed out he’s not much older than Tobey when he started. Still, he’s an incredible actor (Mysterious Skin is tough to watch but a good film and he’s incredible in it).
Logan Lerman, do I think he’d be perfect? No. Is he young enough and yet recognizable and cost effective? Yes.
Got (500)Hundred Days of Summer coming from netflix any day now. So all I can comment on is Mister Wed’s music video discovery. While most of the artists he’s worked with have been shit(except She & Him and Regina Spektor), that has nothing to do with him as a director. His style, in his videos, has a very pop/over the topness that would fit a blockbuster summer action movie quite well. Everything I’ve heard about (500)Days of Summer lead me to believe that he can handle drama/comedy and get good performances out of his actors. So, as long as the Spider-Man soundtrack is more like the (500)Days of Summer soundtrack with no trace of Fergie, Matisyahu, Evenescence or Maroon 5 I think he’s a good choice.
I have no clue what this means for Spider-man.
Loved 500 Days of Summer, so this is great news to me! And I agree that JK Simmons should stay on as JJJ. Perfect casting transcends directors.
If the 80 million budget is true, don’t expect to know anyone in the cast, as a budget that low is going to full of no-names, which frankly is fine. When Superman is being cast everyone wants an unknown, but for some reason Spider-Man people want someone they know. But that budget is scary, and I would assume would mean not too much action. I like the idea of Webb, although was it his directing that made (500) good or the script? But still, here’s hoping Sony wants to make a good film instead of any old piece of crap because it’s Spider-Man, so it will make money. Never forget Batman & Robin. Never forget.
@JumpinJupiter – No one really does know what this means for Spider-man.
I think all we can conclusively say at this point is:
"WEBB is an awesome name for the director of a Spider-man movie."
I like how Marvel is down to refresh their movies (Hulk, Punisher, SpiderMan). I know, I know. Punisher bad.
Oooh oooh. Reboot FF and let friggin Hickman write it! Can you imagine?
Yes, reboot FF. Have them discover the negative zone and throw them in it.
I hope they skip the origin or tell it in an internal monologue.
Do a "Bond Entrance" straight to action in the first 10 or 15 minutes have him take down the Rhino. Then commence with the real story and make it someone worth while. Like Electro or Mysterio. Reintroduce Norman Osborn and Doctor Otto Octavius, sans evilness. Make them douche bags though.
2nd movie, Open with the Vulture and then focus on either Mysterio or Electro who ever wasn’t in the last one.
3rd movie slide Doctor Octopus and Green Goblin in for the full movie
and then the fourth movie…Sinister Six. Gobby 2, Otto, Rhino, Mysterio, Electro and Vulture, make it 3 hours and go full bore, Spider-Man trying to stop them from stealing Nukes and blackmailing the destruction of New York or something equally stupid just lots of action from beginning to end. Drop the mike on the stage and walk off for 10 years then reboot the franchise again.
Could do Kingpin too. The villain really defines the movie. You need a strong villain. 3rd movie I believe lacked it and any semblance of a decent story. Though my fourth movie would lack cohesive story too, would just be a MacGuffin and the Hero going through hoops, would probably suck but the kids would love it.
@ Crucio
I seem to recall Stan Lee wanting to see the Spider-Man movie franchise work like the Bond films (or was the Bob Kane about Batman?) so your premise isn’t too far off.
A smart move may be to skip the "sequel" route altogether. No more numbers just titles.
Amazing Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man, Sensational Spider-Man these are all gimmes.
They could also go with popular Spidey storylines.
Spider-Man & the Six Arm Saga
Spider-Man: The Gauntlet
The Deadly Foes of Spider-Man
The Tangled Web of Spider-Man
Spider-Man: Invasion of the Spider-Slayers
and on and on and on
They won’t all be blockbusters or critical successes but neither was every Bond movie.
Is that the sickly kid from Independence Day?
@jurassicalien nailed it. Logan Lerman could totally work!
I hope they don’t do the whole origin story. They should go the route of the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon.
@ cormano: They should go that route that would be perfect & it would be the best influence for a Gwen/Peter relationship in the movie.
Oh man. I don’t know how i feel this reboot. I didn’t really come to Spider-Man, until the first Spider-Man movie. After seeing that movie, it made me go to the closest comic book store for Amazing Spider-Man. It kind of got me into comics. I just don’t know if they can put lightning in a bottle twice for me. I hope they do. I am going to try and go into this with a open mind, but I just don’t know man.
I was (and still am) hoping that they don’t go back to high school and to how he got his powers. A brief recap would be fine. Spider-Man 1 was not that long ago, people remember. Just jump into the story with the new actors and it’ll be fine. I think @Crucio’s idea is a great one. Do something like that.
@DMaggot: Well, they’ve already stated they are definitely going back to high school aged Peter Parker. Whether or not they spend a lot of time on the origin is the question at this point.
Question: Other than his origin, what’s the most memorable Spider-Man story?
I feel the Spider-Man origin is one of the best comic book superhero stories of all time. Everything Spider-Man has done since hasn’t come quite close.
@smasher
they could film that USM story where wolverine and spidey switched bodies. that was pretty rad. hugh jackman could cameo.
@smasher
there some great spidey stories!
revelations (maybe my personal face!)
kravens last hunt
Gwen stacey’s death
hell I know it’s not even over yet but the gauntlet would be hella fun to watch!
and so many more!
If this wasn’t going to be hs years I think Jim from the office would be an interesting Peter, physically not ideal but I feel like like he could capture that lovable sarcastic nerd vibe
Ah BOOM! Who called it!? http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/02/04/logan-lerman-in-talks-for-spider-man/