January 20, 2010 
source: vulture.com
Last week we reported on the unexpected breakdown of Spider-Man 4, which saw Sony boot director Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire from their billion-dollar franchise. The studio is now prepping a reboot, and although a new Spidey has not been named, it looks as if a deal has been struck with one of the hottest young directors in Hollywood. And the lucky (?) man is …
Marc Webb, director of (500) Days of Summer. Marc Webb. This is going to create some fun headlines.
The New York Magazine’s Vulture Blog have the exclusive, claiming that Sony will imminently announce a deal which will see Webb direct not one, not two, but three Spider-Man movies. The new trilogy will focus on Peter Parker’s private life, beginning in high school.
UPDATE: Sony have confirmed via press release. According to the Heat Vision blog, the film will have a budget of $US80 million and will feature a cast of relative unknowns.
There were plenty of rumours flying around the net last week claiming that Webb was indeed the front-runner for the plum job. I must say, despite being a big fan of his work on (500) Days of Summer, his hiring has still caught me by surprise.
Vulture suggest the likely reasons for his casting. Firstly, Columbia chairman Amy Pascal has long been a fan of Webb. “She views him as a latter-day Cameron Crowe for the economically and socially angsty Generation Y, and thinks he’d be perfect to explore the conflict within Parker,” claims Vulture.
Secondly, Webb is cheap. He will likely claim $10 million for the first film, and will receive certain bonuses if the film hits certain financial milestones. Considering that Raimi and Maguire were expected to take home 25% of the gross of Spider-Man 4, this is going to save Sony a lot of money.
Webb is supremely talented and I was already looking forward to whatever his next film was going to be. Now that we know it will be a brand new installment of my favourite web-crawler, I’m tickled with joy. The question is: Did Sony hire a green director that would acquiesce to studio demands? Webb is only new to the industry, and I hardly think he has enough power to push back on some (potentially frustrating) requests. Raimi himself revealed (in a roundabout way) that there was plenty of pressure on him during the making of Spider-Man 3 to include more villains than he would have liked.
I guess we’ll find out when the first film hits cinemas in 2012.
Discuss: What is your favourite Webb related pun regarding this news?
Quickflix 
Sony….you are stupid!If it ain't broke, don't 'fix' it.It was wonderful seeing Toby grow into Spidey. Much like Daniel growing into Harry Potter.
Oh thank goodness Toby is gone. He has as much screen presence and personality as a wet blanket.
Only the USD80million budget seems completely wrong.
Life for Peter Parker in the city of New York has never been better. His web-slinging alter-ego, Spider-Man, is the hero of millions; his "day job" at the Daily Bugle is going strong. His college grades are in top form, and to top it all off, he and the lovely Mary-Jane Watson are madly in love with each other. For once in his life, Peter has very little to worry about…until a strange, small object crashes into Central Park, unleashing a living black ooze that eventually…well, more on that later.