The Future of Spider-man Movies Look Uncertain

Changes are going on at Sony Pictures with regards to the Spider-man movies. Screenwriter/producer Roberto Orci, who penned The Amazing Spider-man 2 with former writing partner Alex Kurtzman, will not be involved with part 3 or any of the Spider-man spin-offs anymore. Orci was initially reported to be part of Sony's plans to move on to part 3 and its spin-offs which include a Venom and The Sinister Six movies. Reports from IGN add that Alex Kurtzman, on the other hand, will remain at the studio to write and direct the Venom spin-off. [hit the jump to continue]

Even though The Amazing Spider-Man 2 did bring in over $700 million worldwide, it's still considered a failure. Simply because it did not meet with expectations; it made money--but it did not bring in "Spider-man Money". This emo sequel currently ranks as the lowest box office in the franchise’s five films to date. While, on record, there are no changes to the last report that Kurtzman is slated to do Venom, Drew Goddard for The Sinister Six, and Marc Webb to direct Amazing Spider-man 3-- it has emerged now that schedules for those upcoming Spider-man-related movies are up in the air. And to think that before part 2 was released months ago, Sony was too excited to announce that they are planning to release a new Spidey-related film every year. Let's face it, if Sony does intend to push their 2016 target as was announced by them months ago when they still thought Spidey 2 would be a hit--- things at the Sony Spidey camp should have been moving along by now. Instead, what we get is clear news of internal house-cleaning. If we're being optimistic, we can say that Sony is indeed stepping back and is taking a deep thoughtful breath first before rushing to do a pretty shallow Spider-man movie.

The report from IGN does have Orci stating in the end that the Spider-man movies is indeed too big and will not just easily flop away:
“I don’t know what their plans are for that franchise.  I don’t ever want to say never, but we have to figure out what their scheduling is in terms of when they want each movie. I’ve read probably as much as anyone else. There’s a love for the Sinister Six, the idea of Venom — there’s an idea of Spider-Man’s going to be one of these characters that’s part of our business. He’s such a popular character. Spider-Man’s not going to go away any time soon. When it all happens and how and all that has yet to be determined.”

Sure, it will continue to make money and will not just merely flop away. But it's a matter of how bad movies can quickly make this franchise obsolete. Imagine a world where Schumacher continued to make his cartoony Batman movies; we possibly would not have resulted in Nolan's Batman movies to be made. While Schumacher's Batman would be the most extreme example, we think it's pretty much the same case. Our opinions? Sony's approach on this existing Spider-man franchise is incredibly inaccurate in terms of essence; it needs another reboot.