14 DAY TRIAL // Sam Raimi will return to the fourth Spider-Man film, with the promise that he will breathe new life into the franchise again and thus make the fans forget about the disappointment that was the third movie. Overall, things seem to be moving in the right direction, with writer Gary Ross just joining the team for massive re-writes of the script, as Collider can confirm.
Movie critics and fans alike have long agreed that the biggest flaw with “Spider-Man 3” was the fact that it took too dark a direction, which is highly uncharacteristic for the comics. With this in mind, bringing Ross on board, a man who is known for his light-hearted “Dave,” “Pleasantville” and “Seabiscuit,” seems a good step towards returning Spider-Man to his roots, and bring back the prevailing atmosphere that fans loved so much.
“Writer/director Gary Ross is coming on board to re-write the script. The script was first handled by James Vanderbilt (‘Zodiac’) and then David Lindsay-Abaire (‘Inkheart’). The addition of Ross, who wrote ‘Dave,’ ‘Pleasantville,’ and ‘Seabiscuit,’ signals that the new installment may be headed in a slightly saccharine direction. That’s not the worst thing. Spidey is a character that can go dark and brooding but he can also be light-hearted and fancy-free. Personally, I’ve had a little too much dark and brooding and bringing Ross on board says ‘We know ‘The Dark Knight’ was successful but we’re going to do our own thing.’ Good for them.” Collider writes of the latest announcement.
Because of the disappointment of the third film, most fans actually hoped a fourth one would never be made. When Kirsten Dunst also announced that she would probably not be reprising her role, word in the industry had it that the “Spider-Man” franchise would stop dead then and there. However, shortly afterwards, Raimi confirmed the project was in the works, vouching, in more or less words, that he would personally see that it became the best and most loved Spider-Man film.
In the meanwhile, main star Tobey Maguire has also confirmed he would return as Peter Parker / Spider-Man but, as of now, this is about all that is known of the fourth film in the series. A release date has been set for May 6, 2011 but fans won’t be hearing more of it for at least another while, it is being said, until the project does not get out of the “development hell,” where it is now.