Senor Fenix here boys and girls with the latest news on Spider-Man at Sony.
There has been much reported on and some news neglected in recent weeks. Kevin Feige and the Marvel team will be producing the new series at Sony in what is envisioned as a three part series to come out over consecutive summers. There is talk about calling the series SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN after yet another Marvel comics series ala the last films being called “Amazing.”
Feige was allowed to join the process only after Ike Perlmutter, Feige’s boss and the man behind the curtain, insisted that former partner and one time friend Avi Arad be removed from the film series. Since Sony had installed Arad as a courtesy back in 2000 it was an easy removal legally. But since former Sony Studio head Amy Pascal made herself a producer on the film on the way out the door, I understand there was a lot of acrimony when Amy informed Avi he was out. Arad will receive an EP credit on the film and instead focus on making a feature out of GHOST IN THE SHELL without any Asian actors.
I understand that Avi’s partner on the recent less-than-stellar reboot Matt Tolmach was so shocked when Pascal (his close friend) informed him she was in and he was out he is now wandering the Sony lot dazed, like after a headbutt from the Rhino.
So the thinking at the moment is that Sony will faze out all the Spidey Verse films they were developing. Yes even the Aunt May film (that was real!) and focus on a story involving Spidey versus the Sinister Six. At one point they were developing a film that was just going to be a spinoff called THE SINISTER SIX. That’s scrapped but the big news is that the director of that film, Drew Goddard, will write AND direct the Spectacular Spider Man movie.
Key things to look for in the new series:
-No new origin story, Spidey exists from the beginning, taken as a given
-New actor, probably an unknown, he will be specifically based in High School and they want him to be able to grow up into the role. The thought being if this works, Spidey can do multiple trilogies for years ala Harry Potter.
-A major part of the first film will involve Spider- Man fighting Iron Man and then trying to pass the “audition” to join the Avengers
-The first film will involved the Sinister Six coming together with the thought to later maybe spin them off.