Marc Webb directs Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel in (500) Days of Summer (Chuck Zlotnick / Fox Searchlight)
Former music video director Marc Webb, whose quirky romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer became one of the sleeper hits of 2009, will be the next Spider-Man director, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios have announced.
After disagreements over the screenplay, director Sam Raimi and actor Tobey Maguire abandoned the Spider-Man franchise after three films, the last of which, Spider-Man 3, was released to middling reviews in 2007. According to Sony, the new Spider-Man will be a fully revamped version of the Marvel character. For one thing, in James Vanderbilt's screenplay Peter Parker will be about high-school age. Rumored Spider-Man replacements have included Robert Pattinson, Zac Efron, Michael Cera, Jim Sturgess, and Chace Crawford.
Marc Webb, whose feature-film debut was (500) Days of Summer, was quoted as saying in a statement that he's not taking over from Raimi, among whose credits are Evil Dead II, The Quick and the Dead, The Gift, and the 2009 release Drag Me to Hell. "That would be impossible, not to mention arrogant," Webb said, adding that "I'm here because there's an opportunity for ideas, stories and histories that will add a new dimension, canvas and creative voice to Spider-Man." As per a Variety report, Webb is being signed to direct only one picture — with the possibility of more to follow.
Hollywood studios have at times used an offbeat filmmaker to handle audience-friendly blockbusters-in-the-making. Sometimes it works, whether at the box office or artistically (or both), sometimes it doesn't. Alfonso Cuarón, of the Mexican arthouse hit Y tu mama también, did quite well commercially with Harry Potter and the Prince of Azkaban (2004), but Oliver Hirschbiegel's The Invasion (2007), despite the presence of Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, was a box-office and critical disaster.
On the other hand, Christopher Nolan, fresh off Memento and Insomnia, did quite well for himself both commercially and artistically with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
The fourth installment in the Spider-Man franchise is scheduled for a summer 2012 release.