Basically by ticking Spidey director Sam Raimi off. Yeah, apparently Raimi told Sony studio execs he couldn’t make the May, 2011 release date for Spider-Man 4 with a script that would reflect the Spider-Man integrity and walked away, taking star Tobey Maguire with him. Sony then in turn announced they’d do a reboot of the franchise, with a new cast and new director for 2012. Wow. Nikke Finke over at Deadline Hollywood got the whole scoop. Fascinating inside story.
I suppose a brand new vision for the comic-book hero wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. In my opinion, it was getting a wee bit old in the third installment. Spider-Man 2 has always been my favorite cause I really like Alfred Molina as the villain. Whatever ends up happening, I’m sure the franchise will still make money hand over fist for Sony — and really, that’s all they care about.