If this news is true, then we can expect some big movement on the Spider-Man franchise at the end of 2008/beginning of 2009.

Laura Zisken, the producer of the Spidey movies at Columbia/Sony has told theatre owners in California and Nevada that a fourth movie in the series is hoped to be released in May 2011.

She also confirms that James Vanderbilt (Zodiac) has yet to turn his script in, the part of the proccess that will be vital in keeping both director Sam Raimi and stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. If the script is below par or is disagerable with them, then that’s it for those three… they no longer have any committments with the franchise.

The Spider-Man series has made over $2.5 billion worldwide and is the most success modern day cinematic franchise. With or without those trio, Spider-Man will be continuing for a very long time indeed. It is the new James Bond franchise of films.

source - la times, /film

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Again, Sam Raimi is attaching himself to everything but Spider-Man 4. At least his fifth or sixth new project since his last movie, Variety say the talented visual helmer has signed on to direct THE GIVEN DAY - an adaptation of a Dennis Lehane novel which reunites him with Columbia Pictures.

Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone and the upcoming Martin Scorsese film Shutter Island are all based on Lehane’s crime writings. The Given Day, his latest novel won’t be published until September.

“The Given Day” is set in 1919 Boston, with the city in turmoil as soldiers are returning home from WWI, having brought back an epidemic of Spanish influenza. Attempts to unionize the police department have set the stage for a historic strike and two cops take center stage.

Raimi says…

“While it deals with many of the same themes as (Lehane’s) earlier work, it is also his most ambitious book, tying events of a century ago to the subjects we struggle with today,” Raimi said.

Cool. Both Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone are two of the best crime movies of this decade, Lehane seems to touch on characters and a gritty side of the world that we haven’t seen in the movies since the 70’s with the works of Brian De Palma and William Freidkin.

They feel cinematic and it’s no wonder they have attracted such great directing talent. This could be Raimi’s most grown up movie yet but I couldn’t possibly chose between this, a new Jack Ryan film and The Shadow as which project I would love to see him direct after Drag Me to Hell. Notice Spidey 4 is not on that list.

Contrary to reports we’ve heard from the last few weeks, director Sam Raimi claims that screenwriter James Vanderbilt has not yet turned in his first draft for the fourth Spider-Man movie claiming it’s still a few months away from completion.

However he does give his strongest hint yet that he very much wants to say on for the next movie.

“James Vanderbilt is writing the script and I’m excited to read it. I think it’s going to be done in a few months,” Raimi told us, adding, “I’m hoping it’s as great as our discussions were about it and I’m hoping it feels right for me because I love Spider-Man. I’m hoping I’m well rested enough to embrace it and I’m hoping Sony wants me to do it. If all of those things come together, I would love to do it. There are a lot of unknowns about the future.”

He also mentions he hates the idea of re-casting anyone from the series, hoping that Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Bryce Dallas Howard, J.K. Simmons and the rest of the crew will return for more movies. As I’ve said before, Raimi will be back as long as he is guaranteed the same kind of power he had on the first two movies and if he likes the script that is turned in.

Raimi also told Shock Till You Drop that he wants to do another Evil Dead at some point but is so busy on other things write now, namely his currently shooting horror Drag Me to Hell - his reinvention of the Jack Ryan franchise - Spidey 4 and his interpretation of The Shadow.

source - coming soon

If I were the head of Columbia/Sony/Marvel, then I would make damn sure that Spider-Man 4 and 5 were shot back to back as rumored and that whatever it takes, Tobey Maguire is convinced to return because there’s two summer tentpoles still to be squeezed out of him before he passes that point of no return to play the young Peter Parker.

After that, do what you want. Re-cast - move on, whatever.

But for now let’s have an epic Spidey two-arc movie which sends off Maguire and director Sam Raimi the right way because Spider-Man 3 certainly wasn’t it.

HOWEVER, I’m all for back-up plans. And the word from Latino Review (who are 8 out of 10 times SPOT ON with their scoops) is that two actors are being considered to replace Maguire should he not wish to return. And after all it doesn’t take a genius to realise that the Spider-Man films will go on and on and on just like the Bond series with new actors replacing old ones, as long as they keep making money.

First up is Patrick Fugit. You may remember him as the young guy who lead Almost Famous - and since then he’s been little seen with only Wristcutters: A Love Story that you are even remotely likely to have seen.

He certainly has the vulnerable look of Maguire but to me, he looks younger than Tobey (which of course he is) - it might seem a move backwards in the character’s progression…

Second choice is Michael Angarano - who was also in Almost Famous - but has done a lot more with his career since starring in Sky High, Lords of Dogtown and most recently The Forbidden Kingdom.

He is already linked to superhero movies having auditioned for the role of The Flash in last year’s failed Justice League project. Him I can’t picture AT ALL as Peter Parker…

Usually it’s the name of Jake Gyllenhaal which continuously comes up in regards to the Peter Parker role but his recent casting in the Prince of Persia film has no doubt ruled him out.

All speculation right now but as we keep saying there’s lots of decisions still to be made. We know the script from James Vanderbilt (Zodiac) has been turned in to the studio and now the studio, Maguire, Dunst and Raimi must decide their plans for the next installment of their billion dollar franchise.

Last we heard, Sam Raimi had been chosen as the new figurehead of the Jack Ryan series of Tom Clancy novels which has so far seen four movies made in 15 years, and 3 different actors playing the C.I.A. agent, those being Harrison Ford, Alec Baldwin and Ben Affleck.

It’s expected that Raimi will move into work on the series late Summer when he is fully completed with his upcoming horror movie Drag Me to Hell and Paramount want the film due out in the Summer of 2010.

Now I can almost guarantee you that Paramount are desperate to get Harrison Ford back as Jack Ryan and doing it right now when his name is hot again.

Ford reveals his interest to The Sun…

“That’s a character that I think you could revisit acknowledging the passage of time and his increasing age. It wasn’t age dependent; that character and his experiences were chockablock full of recipes for good engaging movies, so that’s a character I wouldn’t mind revisiting.”

Now I’m much happier to see Ford return as Ryan than I was Indy because as he says, it’s not fully dependent on a young guy. However I have to say, I thought Ben Affleck did a good job in The Sum of All Fears and I would really like to see him given the ball to run with this character once again, especially now that Sam Raimi is on board.

But if Ford wants to do it, I can’t see Paramount saying no.

One character Ford most certainly won’t be returning - even if George Lucas waves the cash at him is Han Solo…

“Oh, Han Solo isn’t interesting to me. It’s a very narrow sort of utility in the story and it was great for my career and it was fun to play at the time but I wouldn’t go back there again. Those pants!”

source - moviehole

Spider-Man 3 wasn’t so far terrible that the series involving our web slinging superhero is not unsalvagable just yet and if today’s news scoop from Cinematical is anything to go by then it’s early signs that Sony/Columbia have learnt from their mistakes.

After over-indulging at least two or maybe three films worth of story and plot in the last Spidey flick, the new series screenwriter James Vanderbilit (Zodiac, Basic) has wisely last week turned in a two film storyline arc to the studio for Spider-Man 4 which can be shot back to back with Spider-Man 5. It’s a move that has no doubt delighted Sony and Columbia because of course it means one extra movie and twice the cash for the small work of shooting back to back.

And when Spider-Man 3 made $890 million worldwide - you are talking about a move which will eventually see you earn nearly another $1 billion.

There’s of course another big factor which is beneficial by this move. Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst aren’t getting any younger, Peter Parker is not quite like Bruce Wayne… there’s only so long that Maguire can go around convincing us he’s still a young man. Shooting these films back to back mean you have two more movies whilst Maguire is still young.

Of course we should point out that at this stage it’s all just in the negotiations stage. As is the involvement of director Sam Raimi, who won’t commit until he has read the script and is assured of 100% full control this time.

Any ideas on what the story arc could be? I would think we have to see The Lizard this time around and Dr. Curt Connors slow transformation could be something that slowly explored could work out well (think Two-Face). I’ve already put my hat in the ring believing the Kraven’s Last Hunt storyline would be pretty spectacular on film.

Another idea I’ve quite liked is using Bruce Campbell for Mysterio and possibly incorporating the Sinister Six somehow - though at this point I will settle for a film that doesn’t go heavy handed on the Peter Parker/Mary Jane Watson relationship.

Cloverfield actress Jessica Lucas has joined the already cast Alison Lohman and Justin Long in Sam Raimi’s next movie Drag Me to Hell which begins shooting a week on Monday.

Co-written by Raimi and his brother Ivan, the movie is a morality tale about the unwitting recipient of a supernatural curse.

source - shock till you drop

If these talks go as planned then I think we have seen the last Sam Raimi directed Spider-Man movie, something as both a Raimi fan and a Spidey fan is something I hoped would happen.

At the very least, Raimi won’t be able to do Spider-Man 4.

Here’s the exciting news from Variety…

Paramount Pictures is in negotiations with Sam Raimi to spearhead a franchise revival of Jack Ryan, the Tom Clancy-created CIA analyst character who drove four hit movies for the studio.

Par will draft a scribe to write a Ryan movie that Raimi would shoot after he completes the Universal horror film “Drag Me to Hell.” Paramount wants the Ryan movie ready for release in summer 2010.

The idea is for Raimi to develop and direct a new trilogy of films for producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura which will feature a younger and more formative Jack Ryan. This revival is likely to be a franchise REBOOT and will probably be set in the modern world of terrorism (hang on… wasn’t the modern day reboot The Sum of All Fears?) and will probably be influenced by Matt Damon’s Bourne trilogy.

A younger Jack Ryan was rumored in January when Ryan Gosling’s was talked about to fill the big shoes of Harrison Ford, Alec Baldwin and yes Ben Affleck, who I thought made and would still make a good Jack Ryan.

Tom Clancy is said to be writing a new Ryan novel but Paramount have so far not contacted the author despite having first option on any book with the Ryan character, so it could be Paramount might go James Bond like with an original story of their own.

Superb news from where I stand. I enjoy all four of the previous Jack Ryan movies and I absolutely adore Raimi’s work as a director and I’ve been saying for a while now he most definitely needed a break from Spider-Man.

If Paramount want the first film out by 2010… there ain’t no way he could do Spidey 4. The biggest opening movie of all time is not a franchise Sony will sit on to wait for Raimi, especially after the reaction to his last film was only so-so… at best.

I’m so glad Raimi is taking on different projects again. Can’t wait to see how inventive he can be with a franchise such as this…

Paramount Pictures and Sam Raimi are teaming up to bring the upcoming graphic novel Monster Zoo to the big screen say Variety.

Raimi is only producing at this point…

To be published in the spring by Image, Monster Zoo tells the story of a young boy who discovers his local zoo contains critters much more frightening than the ordinary collection.

Creator Doug Tenpal was also the guy responsible for Earthworm Jim…

Full steam ahead for Sam Raimi and his next movie Drag Me To Hell.

Variety say that the directing master has cast Justin Long as the boyfriend of the already cast Alison Lohman (who replaced Ellen Page) in his supernatural thriller which will begin shooting on the last day of this month for Ghost House Pictures. In the movie Lohmann will be the unwitting recipient of a supernatural curse.

Justin Long (who I’m sure you will have heard is dating Drew Barrymore) was Bruce Willis’ sidekick in Live Free or Die Hard and after many roles in comedy, this will be his first return to the horror genre since Jeepers Creepers, his first lead role…