News broke yesterday that Spider-Man 4 was to be scrapped, and the franchise rebooted, with the entire cast and crew being replaced. To me, this is insane news and highlights a major problem within the industry at the minute.
Admittedly, Spider-Man 3 was atrocious but I was looking forward to seeing Raimi make amends. After all, the universe he has created was brilliant and unique, and was ripe for continued exploration. Although Tobey Maguire is getting on now, his freakishly boyish looks (surely he is the illegitimate love-child of Matthew Broderick?) mean that he could easily still pull it off. The arc of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in it’s current guise will remain unresolved, something which leaves me highly unsatisfied. I was eager to see Parker finally embrace his powers fully and become the wise-cracking web-slinger everyone wanted. Some of this is Raimi’s own fault though, as the arc should have been completed in the last instalment.
The reason for the decision is that Raimi could not meet Sony’s deadline. To me this shows that studios care less about the integrity of the film and more about milking a cash cow for all it’s worth. And the fact that Sony have already planned a reboot to be released in 2012 is even more ridiculous. That means there are currently reboots in the woodwork for Spidey, Superman and Deadpool. Before long, big-budget pictures will just be repeated in cycles and grow stagnant.
What is your take on the news? Do you think a reboot is the best thing for the character? Who do you think should replace Maguire as Spider-Man and who should take over the directorial reins?