Spiderman is one of the most enigmatic characters Marvel ever produced. With thousands of comic books and the popular live action series, everyones favourite web-head has also appeared in a slate of big budget Hollywood movies. Most recently, The Amazing Spiderman claimed the number one spot at the box office for a little over a week. This recent incarnation of the series saw Andrew Garfield don Spidermans signature red and blue costume. Garfield seemed to be a perfect fit for the role, which entailed Peter Parkers quick witty remarks and comedic nature. To most fans of the franchise, however, it seemed the movie clearly missed its mark In fact the villainous Lizard character did not even look like the original character. While Garfields performance was intact, many believe he failed to truly capture the allure and essence of Spiderman.
Raimi’s Warcraft movie could get iffy
With Sam Raimi officially out as the director for the new Spider-Man movie, focus is now on what his next project will be.
If last July’s announcement from Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures will be our basis, then Raimi is going to direct a movie based on the geek-attracting Warcraft universe. Many a geek have lost sleep playing the excellent real time strategy games of Warcraft, and we haven’t even touched on the kind of insane obsession people have on World of Warcraft, the MMORPG that has been the cause of many breakups, divorces, and a growing number of 20 year old virgins.
The Warcraft universe would really be perfect for Raimi, whose vision is perfect for the kind of high fantasy world that Warcraft will absolutely require. Even though a screenwriter has also been announced last October (Robert Rodat, who wrote The Patriot) and the film is in the outline/story phase it looks like Raimi actually hasn’t made a final decision yet. It seems that the Spider-Man announcement took some of the wind off his sails and he’s now reconsidering all of his options before committing fully to a project. Rumblings are that he is leaning towards making a small film first — maybe to take the slimy taste off his mouth after being shafted by a big movie studio — especially since he had a lot of fun making “Drag Me To Hell.” But, again, everything’s still up in the air.
Spidey 4 and 5 to be shot back to back?
Rumors are abuzz that director Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire has signed on to work on Spider-man 4 and Spider-man 5. The plan is that the movies will be shot using a script by James Vanderbilt, which is going to span two films. The first of the two movies is reportedly slated to be released on 2011.
There are no news about Kirsten Dunst but Dunst’s Mary Jane Watson character will be featured in the movies. There are no reports though of recasting for the role.
Principal photography for the movies will reportedly begin fall of 2009 and only by then will the villain be determined. The early buzz though is that it will be The Lizard, which is Dylan Baker’s character Dr. Curt Connors.
Venom movie eyed
The prospects of a Spider-Man sequel is still up in the air but Sony Pictures is not willing to wait anymore and has unveiled the possibility of spin-off movies being produced instead.
The first spin-off could be the Venom movie. The plan is to extend the life of the Spider-Man franchise, which is already showing its age. This is the same tactic that’s been used on the X-Men franchise with the upcoming Wolverine movie.
A script has already been commissioned and casting is a no-brainer with Topher Grace, who played the role of Venom in the third Spidey sequel. But agents are also eyeing the role for other actors because of the belief that Grace still cannot carry a picture on his own.
Raimi in ‘sequel’ updates
If there’s one director who is frequently involved in sequel rumors it has got to Sam Raimi. A number of projects he has been involved with have been the constant fodder for speculations of follow-up movies. Fortunately, Raimi has officially spoken and we can now dismiss many of the rumors surrounding his movies.
With regards to the Spider-Man sequel, Raimi said that writer James Vanderbilt is about to finish the script to the next sequel. Raimi has gone on to say that he is excited to read the script and he hopes that it is good enough that he will want to be involved again. he also hopes that Sony will be of the same mind and will want to hire him for a possible sequel. In other words, everything is still up in the air.
The Evil Dead remake, on the other hand, is still stalled. Raimi said that they are interested to do the project but he hasn’t been able to do anything with regards to the project. As far as the possibility of having a 30 Days of Night sequel, this project is, for all intents and purposes, dead in the water.