SciFi Movie Zone: Spider-Man 4 Delayed
January 5, 2010 by RetroEd
Filed under Featured, Sci Fi Movie Zone
According to Nikke Finke’s Deadline Hollywood blog, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4 is going to have a delay from its announced May 11, 2011 release date due to script problems. “I’m even told Sam Raimi had been very vocal inside Sony that he ‘hated’ [the script]. Now Raimi and Sony are anxiously waiting for still another version from screenwriter Alvin Sargent, who wrote Spidey 2 & 3 and is married to Spidey franchise producer Laura Ziskind. ‘It is unlikely that May 11, 2011, date will be made,’ a Sony insider just told me today. ‘It depends on how quickly the script can get in.’ However, agents have told clients in the movie to already expect the film to be pushed back.”
Finke’s sources tell her that the film will probably still come out in the summer of 2011, most likely in July. Still, she points out, this is a great opportunity for other studios to move into the May time period having previously vacated it for Spidey.
Said a Sony source, “Some decisions have been made over the holiday about Spider-Man 4. We will be extending the production hiatus on the film. The studio is firmly committed to this franchise but, for us, the script must come first. We intend to notify members of the crew immediately. As you know, Alvin Sargent is currently working on the screenplay. When we have more news, we will keep you posted.”
Glad to hear that script comes first. No matter how much money Spider-Man 3 made, there are few people who would say that the script was a good one.
I do know that Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal and Columbia Pictures president Matt Tolmach, who have shepherded the Spider-Man franchise from Day One, has been wrestling with this script problem for months. “I’m going to do everything I can to make May,” she has repeatedly told Hollywood types involved with the movie. “But I’m not going to start a movie where the script isn’t right yet. Not unless I want my career to be over.”
Fortunately for Pascal, Sony is not yet “pay or play” on some of the talent negotiations which were still only at the tail end. Raimi is insisting that John Malkovich play the villain, so that won’t change. But I do hear that it’s now unlikely Anne Hathaway will be cast. “I’m not so sure we’re going in that direction,” an insider told me recently. Sony had been hot for her until bigwigs realized she’d cost too much and they probably don’t need “such a big star” for the pic, I’m told. (See my previous, Anne Hathaway Wanted For ‘Spider-Man 4′)
As for those repeated rumors that Spider-Man 4 will and won’t shoot in 3D, I’ve got to figure that’s uppermost on Sony minds given the post-Avatar climate. Back in April, Sony Pictures’ co-chairmen Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton told Forbes magazine they were considering making the 4th Spider-Man in 3D. Here were the quotes: “Could be,” said Pascal. Lynton added: “People are paying a premium to see movies in 3-D and that’s a very big deal. It’s never been done before that someone says you have to pay more to see Spider-Man than a romantic comedy.” More as I get it…
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