New Spider-Man Reboot Gets Director (And Some Details)
Earlier this week, Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios announced that they had found a director for its new reboot of the Spider-Man series. The new director will be Marc Webb. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the name, Webb was primarily a music video director, until his recent film debut with (500) Days of Summer. Critics absolutely adored the film, and it even managed to snag a couple Golden Globe nominations. Apparently, this small amount of success is all the big wigs needed to be convinced.
In terms of what the reboot will actually be based on, many sources are reporting that we can expect to see fewer villains and super powers, and more teen angst and romance. For some reason, I get images of Twilight stuck in my head whenever I think about this. Rumors are circulating that the new film will be less focused on the stories of the 1960’s comics, and more on the recent Ultimate Spider-Man version of the hero.
The rumored budget for the film is currently set at $80 million. This is almost half that of the first Spider-Man movie from 2002, and a $178 million less than the most recent Spider-Man 3. The studio also plans to go with stars who are relative unknowns in the film industry. No names have been released as of yet, but hopefully this will put an end to the Robert Pattinson rumors. The last thing I want is a sparkly vampire as my Spider-Man.
Like Sam, I personally think this is all a huge mistake. While I’m not on board with those who believe this reboot will bring about the death of the comic-film genre, I still don’t see good things coming from it. I’m sure the Spider-Man/Marvel names will be enough to carry it to a record breaking opening weekend, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it slammed up and down by every critic with a pair of eyes. In my eyes, the second film in the trilogy is one of the greatest comic-based movies of all time. While the third film fell far short of critical expectations, that’s no reason to take a franchise that’s grossed over $2.5 billion worldwide, and put it in the hands of an unknown director and reboot the entire thing.
Oh, and in other news: Harry Potter 7 has been cancelled. Instead, plans are to reboot the series and focus it more on angsty teenagers.
