Studio Greenlights Spider-Man 5 & 6

Movies — August 18, 2009 at 10:15 — no comments

Spider-Man 4 hasn’t even begun casting yet but Sony clearly is ramping up a new Spidey trilogy. While the script for the fourth Spider-Man film continues to make its way through development, Sony has signed a deal with James Vanderbilt (Zodiac) to script Spider-Man 5 & 6.

VIA V:

If you’ll remember, Vanderbilt was the first writer hired to script Spider-Man 4. His script has since been rewritten by David Lindsay-Abaire and Gary Ross but Sony and Marvel liked enough of Vanderbilt’s starting point to bring him back. So what does this mean for the future of the franchise?

Variety claims in their article that while Sony and Marvel liked Vanderbilt’s Spider-Man 4 draft, it was Raimi who brought aboard Lindsay-Abaire and Ross as Raimi didn’t “embrace all of Vanderbilt’s ideas.” So does Vanderbilt’s return for Spider-Man films 5 & 6 hint that Raimi might not be around for those films? That’s obviously wild speculation at this point but perhaps Sony and Marvel are planning for a post-Raimi future and bringing aboard a writer that they approve.

Of course a Spider-Man 5 may never even happen (with Raimi, Tobey Maguire or Kirsten Dunst) but Sony’s getting a script ready just in case.