Expect lots of info in the coming weeks that shows my initial fears about the new franchise were well founded. Welcome to Smallville, Spider-Man style.
I wrote that about an hour or so ago, about the hiring of Marc Webb to direct the rebooted Spider-Man franchise. Well, I was wrong – it didn’t take weeks for the info, it took hours. I couldn’t run this stuff because it quite simply wasn’t my info to run, but all of what I have been hearing this past week has come true, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
– The new film will have an 80 million dollar budget, essentially guaranteeing it will be light on action and superheroics.
– The story will come from the Ultimate Spider-Man comics, so expect lots of Yiddish. Well, maybe not, but expect lots of teen soap nonsense that Peter Parker outgrew within two years of the classic Amazing Spider-Man comics (he graduated high school in #28. Peter Parker juggling college, a job, Aunt May, his love life and Spider-Man is infinitely more interesting than Peter pretending to be a nerd and getting swirlies from Flash Thompson). As the Hollywood Reporter put it: ‘villain-fighting took a back seat to the high school angst [in USM].
– The cast will be all unknowns, so enough with the Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It was never going to happen.
– The story will focus ‘on a high school kid who is dealing with the knowledge that his uncle died even though the teen had the power to stop it.’ So expect not just mopey emo nonsense, but a retelling of the origin story.
Not mentioned in the story: Gwen Stacey and Mary Jane are both in the film at this point. Flash Thompson also plays a major role, in a love quadrangle sort of way. Expect this to play out exactly like a TV show – my Smallville comparison was on purpose – that continues on and on with minimal advancement. I expect Peter to remain in high school for at least the first three films, if not forever (remember – the actors will be signed to six to nine picture deals). It’s possible that villains will be rejiggered to be more high school in age, as well, although that’s a guess.
If you have the Jamie Vanderbilt script, please feel free to pass it on to me at devin at chud.com. I’m a huge fan of Spider-Man the character and I’m hoping that reading what Vanderbilt has written will help quash the many concerns that grow with each new announcement about this reboot.
44 comments
Oh, sweet Jesus. This sounds bad. I wasn't a huge fan of the Raimi films (even if I love Raimi in general), but this seems a LOT worse.
I'm so fucking tired of origin stories.
Devin, have you read the first 20 issues of USM? For a retelling of the origin it was pretty entertaining and laid the ground work for some more solid action oriented stories to come. IF this flick wasn't being based on USM, then I might be more worried. Face it, guy, Raimi's spiderman films were not that great.
Guess it's alright for you to ask for scripts, but you complain about people asking you for them. Bitch.
Now I know why I dislike Hollywood. A truly pathetic attempt to chase the Twi-dweeb audience. Its stories like this that give cause for such rampant cynicism against the machine. We're talking about a multi billion dollar franchise less than 10 years old already being rebooted? Are you fucking kidding me. I wouldn't have minded in the least bit a replacement of a new creative team to build on what Raimi did, but this is just…I'm speechless.
the film community is disappointed while devin is having a fucking aneurysm..yeah, everyone is disappointed, but we have not seen a single actor cast or a production team assembled…raimi is one of my favorite film directors, but if someone said that the guy who directed "For Love of the Game" and "The Quick and the Dead" was doing Spider Man (which while some MASTERPIECES were sprinkled in there, Raimi's filmogrophy is middling at best), i would have shit my pants
Somewhere on this earth, Zac Efron is pumping his fist in victory and drunk dialing his agent.
This news truly sucks, but at least we always have the Japanese TV version of Spider-Man for sheer kick-ass Spidey action and insanity, so we're all good. Aren't we?
Are we bashing Ultimate Spider-Man? You know ,the series that's been better than any of the major spidey books for the last ten years? Obviously you don't read any Spidey books, Devin…Spidey speaks more Yiddish in the main books than Ultimate.
Okay, obviously I'm a little out of the loop. Spider-Man speaks Yiddish? I didn't even know he was Jewish.
Ultimate Spider-Man was fun… but it did have lots of superhero action shenanigans to counterbalance the 'Peter's Creek' material. In fact, the first act of Raimi's version already took Mary Jane and Peter's high school relationship from there already. However, like Devin says, an $80 million budget all but guarantees it'll focus heavily on the high school lovey dovey stuff.
I just can't get on board with the hate here, Devin. First of all, ULTIMATE kicks ass and is the best written Spider-Man book in years. And yes, it places the action on the backburner, but in exchange for the human element, including but not limited to "teen soap nonsense." Peter's relationship with Aunt May, his struggles with holding down a job, his failures at school and his friendship with Harry… wait, that sounds an awful lot like the Raimi movies. In fact, it sounds like the best parts of the Raimi flicks. Ultimate, at its best, worked for the same reasons the first, second and (to a lesser extent) third Raimi movies did: it understood what makes Peter Parker tick. But that's just a defense of a great comic.
As for your apocalyptic predictions for the movie, I can't say that I share them. Marc Webb wouldn't be my first choice (500 Days was uninspired at best), but the guy isn't a disastrous choice. And the $80 million is a paltry budget for Marvel's flagship character, but isn't this what you wanted? I recall you touting 300's success as the hopeful start of a new era of modestly-budgeted action movies that actually have a chance of being profitable. Spider-Man 3's $300m budget was absurd – and the thing barely broke even domestically. $80m sounds almost reasonable for a major motion picture budget – hell, ten years ago Singer made X-Men for less than that.
I know Spidey is close to your heart (mine too), but let's not lose our shit over what little information is out there. Also, as for Raimi's departure? I saw Spider-Man 3. Can't say that I was looking forward to another. Sony and Marvel forcing Venom down his throat is the least of that movie's problems.
Boo! Hiss!
I guess a dance scene isn't ruled out.
I don't get why everyone is make such a big deal about the 80 million dollar budget.
Robert Rodriguez's Sin City and Joss Whedon's Serenity were both made for 40 million a piece and both the Hellboy movies were made for under 80 million.
I guess I just don't see what the problem is when its been proven that great action/sci-fi/superhero movies can be made for considerably less than that.
With Webb at the helm, I hope this means there's a song montage every 10 minutes.
Seriously, watch 500 Days of Summer again… it quickly becomes intolerable on a second viewing.
In Webb I trust. This movie will finally be the spider-man I wanted all while Raimi and Sony fucked him up as much as possible. No I won't just leave it at that. I'll explain why raimi fucked spidey up. First, MJ is supposed to be HOT. Big ass titties, curves, cat eyes, sexy barbie doll only the alpha male could get with. Dunst looked like one of those hos even I could score with, that's just wrong. Second Spidey's DUMB. Devin you hate dumb people, well why for u liking spidey in raimi's movies? he's an idiot. Spideys supposed to be a genius. His wit isn't that funny and where's the use of his huge brain to solve the villain's plots? Fix this. Third, Webshooters. They are his light saber, his proton pack, his batbelt, yes it's unrealistic but this is a fantasy movie, so stfu. Thank you and Goodnight.
Gotta say I agree 100% with Liquid
Maybe this will be a prelude to Parker actually becoming Spidey! That would be awesome!
I'm still trying to understand why a movie heavy on "high school angst" is the Spider-Man movie fans want to see.
Yeah, Ultimate Spider-Man has to be one of the most overrated books of the decade.
The first storyline crammed 2 issues of plot and story into six. Gee, can't wait to see this on screen…
And #14- not only will there be dancing- the whole thing will climax at a prom.
What Liquid said.
This sounds horrible. However, I did wish they had gone with Gwen Stacy in the first movie instead of Mary Jane.
All the shitty MJ problems that were in the Rami films could be changed or fixed for a 4th film, or by the fucking Christ recast that bitch who started to look like a crack whore by part 2.
Rami needed another shot, he had the flair and insane passion for the character. Hes the mental crazy energetic directer the series needs and worked well because of him.
What the shit has this Webb guy got Apart from a pun filled name?
I disagree with Liquid. Raimi, got it right. Spiderman one was great and a massive sucess. Webb's won't gross half of what Spiderman 1m did.
C'mon guys, you ALREADY bought the Smallville version of Spider-Man they are just selling you a different version of it. I mean this is the definition of the pot calling the kettle black, and then crying in the corner when it doesn't get to eat Twinkies for dinner. Face Raimi's Spider Man's were weak as fuck, and frankly Spider Man is even less interesting than Iron Man, so you should be happy with this news.
Bitch bitch bitch,
Yawn yawn yawn.
So what if it has a budget of $80 million, District 9 had a budget almost three times as small and look how that turned out.
not sure how Spider'man' works out of the highschool setting.. the villians motives are corny and seemingly just a grudge between spidey and themselves.. bunch of white guys with too much money and epic anger issues.. reminds me of the emo stories that dragged 'Heroes' into the ground..
JBs to guest star – you heard it here first!
Well, if all of this info is true, then they have killed the Spider-Man franchise, for me. They could have picked up where Raimi left off, even if it meant a new director, even with a new cast. But no. It's almost like they were saying, "that wouldn't be bad enough. Let's take out all the fun out of the Spider-Man franchise and maybe some 11 year old girls will take over the fan base. We'll have team Peter and team Flash." I guess I'll just have to wait another ten of fifteen years before they start over, yet again. Maybe by then it will be put back into the hands of someone who grew up as a fan of reading the original Spider-Man comics. I was happy with the Raimi films, and I was happy to see that they didn't keep him in high school and make him deal with homework, and not having a date for the prom. The got him out of there in the first one and sent him off to college. That's how I remember the story and that's how it should be. I'll probably skip this next batch of movies….maybe just rent it to see how bad it is.
Just a passing thought, but maybe we'll finally get to see Gwen Stacy die.
Quite frankly, I can't wait for Peter to give MJ the 'Twilight' Emo-stare.
All I can say, is 'ho-hum.' Just another Hollywood trend we need to either endure because we like Spidey, or not waste our money and skip the movie. Or, better yet, download it so it hurts their pocketbook. 😉
@#27 Adam; District 9 is bad example. That movie was made in Africa in actual slums with a non-union crew, starring non-actors, with a few free CGI shots by Weta to cut down on costs because Peter Jackson was producer, and it was practically shot guerilla-style.
This will not be the Spider-Man you want. The Spider-Man you want is in your head. Like it or not, there will always be sacrifices made to comics or books when translated into movies. Raimi and his people did a terrific job at that translation and made Sony billions. I don't understand the sudden Raimi hate. He was a geek god in 2002, now geeks just want to crap on him.
^RB, sadly, geeks have short memories just like studio execs. In geek circles, your only as good as your last big, geeky movie and for Raimi that was the trouble-plagued Spider-Man 3.
^ Also, I'm sure that in another ten years, when another director takes over the franchise, geeks will say "thank god that hack's Webb is out!" no matter if he actually manages to knock it out of the park.
but.. but.. Smallville's for girls!
Bitch, bitch, bitch. First of all, the high school years were glossed over in the first SM movie so give it a rest. All that happened to Peter in that film was he had a crush, got bit by a spider, got in a fight with Flash Thompson, contributed to the death of his uncle and then he graduated. While I agree with you that the college years materials (I am personally a big fan of the 1978 to 1981 run on Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-man) the high school stuff has merit. Maybe Devin needs to get over the fact that besides simply not being able to fit into the tights (neither can I) he is too old to be teenage or college age Spider-man. So what if Spider-Man 4 was going to set up Peter and MJ getting married and turning into a responsible adult? In my opinion, that is where Spider-man begins to jump the shark a bit, when suddenly he is happy and married and living in NY and having the odd crisis here and there. Spider-man, as much as we love him IS for the kids and if some kid that really likes My Chemical Romance or All-American Rejects (or whomever is popular at the time) or that 16 year old girl that thinks Lady Ga-Ga is the shit is turned on to it, then more power. As far as Marc Webb…meh. Not my first choice, but I think this is typical of the Marvel films so far (although some of the properties are spread out of Disney's reach for the time being) to hire directors with some degree of success in the directing field. We all love John Fav, but he has grown on the Iron Man movies, he didn't come to the franchise as a star director, Kenneth Branaugh (sp?) is still better known for his acting instead of his directing, Louis Leterrier only had two (pretty good) movies under his belt before coming on to the Hulk and so it is with Marc Webb.
On a lighter note, I look forward to the unavoidable death of Gwen Stacy. This was another flaw in my opinion of the Raimi Spider-man movies. Her death echos Uncle Ben's death and is nearly as important to who Peter Parker is as a man.
I hate every one of you little girls. Die.
Ultimate had Spidey juggling school, love life, a job at the bugle, aunt may and superheroing. So it is exactly as Devin described what is better about Amazing its just in high school. I have trepidations about this movie but my hopes are not dashed. (completely)
With Liquid, very true. The Ultimate Spidey is awesome, but so was Amazing Spider-Man before Quesada fucked it up with "Brand New Day." Strazynski wrote for Spidey before that, and he is a fucking genius. I just wish Disney would buy it from Sony and continue to pour money into it. Oh well, maybe we will get to see ole Sam Jackson (as was predicted). I LOVE Spider-Man, I would hate to see it fucked again. By the way, "I just have to say…" you are an ignorant fuck.
I loved the USM were they parody the movie franchise. Spidey ends up having to fight Doc Ock on set to save a movie that won't even give him royalties, and what does comic-book Sam Raimi do? He films the fight and uses the footage in the movie! It's almost too much to hope for but, if treated right, this USM concept COULD work..
How can anyone call out a movie with little more tan a director announced as "emo shit". Did you guys not see that turd that was SM3? Oh thats right I forgot that it was all the studios fault for wanting Venom in the movie. As far as the feared "love quadrangle" people are fearing based on pulling it out of there ass, it seems to me Raimi spent an inordianate amout of time developing what morphed from love traingle to quarangles and back again from film to film. Say what you want but I for one was happy when I heard Webb would be doing it. I love that they hired a guy who made his first film about people and not explosions. I've seen plenty of 2 cartoons fighting each other in the first 3 films, and I'm sure I'll get even more in this new one. But if you want my money again you better give me something to sink my teeth into, and hopefully that will be true emotion. So you guys can have your snaggle-tooth Mary Jane loving rubber costume designing unfunny angry cookie eating dance number having power ranger fighting organic web shooting "Gwen Stacey who"ing spiderman. Give me a well developed Peter Parker and I will be a happy guy.
Welcome to Smallville, Spider-Man?
Smallville hasn't been Smallville since…2001.
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