Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Man directs acclaimed indie. Studio hires man to direct giant blockbuster franchise movie. Said movie is…not very good. Seemingly unimpeded by failure, man continues to direct movies, including a sequel to said blockbuster…which is also not very good. In this case, the man in question is Marc Webb, whose Amazing Spider-Man films were — despite fairly successful box office runs — decidedly un-amazing. His idea for the scrapped third film doesn’t sound that much better.
Before Marvel and Sony reached their highly-anticipated agreement to combine forces for a Spider-Man reboot, there was a lot of confusion about where the web-slinger was headed. We saw some of that in the e-mails following the Sony hack, accompanied by rumors about potential character returns and various spinoff plans. Now that director Marc Webb and the cast have moved on, they’ve begun to clarify what a third Amazing Spider-Man film would have been like.
Just the other day came word that Sony was developing an animated 'Spider-Man' movie with 'The LEGO Movie' directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Which would be great, and we would very much look forward to that movie! But, buried in that same piece of news was word that Sony still has no idea what to do with the live-action films. Do they make an 'Amazing Spider-Man 3' or just completely reboot (again)? High-level executives and 'Spider-Man' producers are set to meet at a "Spider-Man Summit" in January to decide the fate of the franchise. Since our invitation to this summit was strangely lost in the mail, Managing Editor Matt Singer and Editor-in-Chief Mike Sampson put their heads together and came up with a list of ten directors that Team Spidey should be considering.
Even before Sony was hacked and we got a look at their e-mails regarding Spider-Man, we knew that the company was scrambling to figure out what to do with the web-slinging hero. After talks with Marvel for a potential crossover with the character fizzled, it seemed as though Sony was focusing their energies on Spidey spin-offs and putting plans for ‘Amazing Spider-Man 3' on hold, perhaps indefinitely. But according to a new casting call, it looks like Sony might be moving ahead with the third installment in the underwhelming franchise after all.
It’s been a really rough time for Sony as the studio’s e-mails and sensitive materials have been hacked by a mysterious group, and confidential details have been leaking left and right. The latest pieces of information picked up from Sony’s hacked internal e-mails have to do with Spider-Man—a character that’s in a bit of flux right now as Sony has been trying to sort out what to do next following the critical and commercial disappointment of ‘Amazing Spider-Man 2.’ As it turns out, Sony has indeed spoken with Marvel about a potential crossover, and that’s not all they’ve been planning to salvage the character.
Felicity Jones in ‘The Theory of Everything’ is a revelation of sorts. Think about how many times a biopic has been done and the lead female character is written off in reviews as “So and so was great in a thankless role.” Ignoring the cliché of the word “thankless,” that’s almost become a trope in movies like this: The “thankless” role for a woman. But, that’s what’s so fascinating about Jones in ‘The Theory of Everything,’ not only is she Great with a capital G playing the role of Stephen Hawking’s first wife, Jane Hawking, an argument could also be made that Jones is the true lead of this movie. Put another way: There are a lot of thanks to go around.
Sony Pictures has big plans in store for their 'Spider-Man' movie franchise, further reiterating that they will not give up their claim on this superhero world. Aside from the new release dates for 'Sinister Six' and 'The Amazing Spider-Man 3,' it's been revealed that the studio will further expand this cinematic universe by mining some of its female superheroes for spinoff flicks.
With Comic-Con 2014 less than 24 hours away from its grand start, the internet is a flurry of missed flights and scheduling headaches and excitement and worry and Hall H line preparation and ... release dates? Yep, the studios are capitalizing on the Comic-Con excitement to announce the release dates of some very geek-friendly films and Sony took the chance to let everyone know when they'll be able to see 'The Amazing Spider-Man 3,' 'Sinister Six' and 'Uncharted.'