‘Spider-Man’ Sequels Have New Writers

Sony Pictures may be saying farewell to writer/director Sam Raimi for Spider-Man 5 and 6. Sony has hired James Vanderbilt, the screenwriter of David Fincher's Zodiac in 2007, to scribe the two sequels after the fourth. Vanderbilt actually helped write the next Spider-Man movie; however Raimi didn't quite like the screenplay, so he hired some people to rewrite it. This is no different than from the previous smash Spider-Man 3. Sam Raimi wasn't entirely pleased with some of the writers of it. Still, he directed and co-wrote that one and will direct and has co-written the upcoming sequel. Speculation says that Sony Pictures may just not give a damn what Raimi thinks. Just recently, the Drag Me to Hell writer/director signed on to direct the World of Warcraft movie. So that means there would have to be a four-year wait until we get another Spider-Man movie after the fourth, and that might not even come out until at least summer 2011. Sony might be ditching Raimi and his crew, the guys who were part of every single film-adaptation of the classic Marvel comic. This always happens; studios get too greedy and abandon those that made their movies famous. If they do that, the franchise as we know it may soon come to an end. That would stink, since the last Spider-Man movie was so crazy cool and promising of better movies ahead.

I don't expect that this will be the end of Raimi, though. He's proven he can make it on his own, give the success of Hell. He also has a great line of movies he's set to produce with an upcoming remake of his breakout hit The Evil Dead. If I was Sam Raimi, after the fourth movie I would flip a Sony executive the bird and walk out, high and mighty. He made Spider-Man a household name.