Spider-Man 4 lands a Pulitzer…
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire got out of a rabbit hole, only to be ensnared by a spider’s web.
Lindsay-Abaire, who won a Pulitzer in 2007 for his drama “Rabbit Hole,” is in final negotiations to write “Spider-Man 4″ for Columbia.
Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire are back as director and star, respectively, as are series producers Laura Ziskin and Avi Arad. Kirsten Dunst also is expected to return for the latest movie featuring the Marvel Comics character.
Plot details are under lock and key.
Columbia always has gone off the beaten path during the development process when hiring writers for the “Spider-Man” movies. Alvin Sargent, a veteran scribe best known for 1973’s “Paper Moon” and 1980’s “Ordinary People,” served as a writer on the second and third films. Michael Chabon, another Pulitzer winner, also worked on “Spider-Man 2.”
James Vanderbilt previously wrote a draft of “Spider-Man 4.”
Lindsay-Abaire’s “Rabbit Hole,” which starred Cynthia Nixon and Tyne Daly, hit the Broadway stage in 2006 and won four Tonys, including best play. The writer also is known for the play “Fuddy Meers.”
Lindsay-Abaire has said in interviews that his plays tend to be “peopled with outsiders in search of clarity,” which would put his work on sympathetic terms with Peter Parker, who in his classic incarnation is the perpetual outsider.
- from THR
Spider-Man ‘the most expensive production in theater history’
IN this economy, every body’s tight ening their belts. Every body, that is, but Julie Taymor.
The genius director of “The Lion King” has never met a budget she didn’t blow right past.
Case in point: “Spider-Man,” her new show – extravaganza, really – whose budget has ballooned to $40 million, making it the most expensive production in theater history.
Some of the people involved (there are dozens and dozens, with more being added daily) are starting to blanch at the price tag. With straight faces, a few are running around town saying things like: “Well, it’s $40 million now, but we think we can get it down to $35 million.”
Let’s see.
If – and it’s a big “if” where Julie The Lion Taymor is concerned – they do bring it in for $35 million, “Spider-Man,” with a weekly running cost of $1 million, will have to run about 8,000 years in a Broadway theater just to break even.
“It’s off the charts,” one source says. “Off the charts.”
The musical has a rock score by Bono (quite a good score, I’m told; the messy book is another matter) and is being produced by Sony, Marvel Comics and David Garfinkle, a lawyer who managed to get control of the musical after its original producer, the much-missed Tony Adams, died of a heart attack three years ago.
- from NYpost
Kirsten Dunst Talks ‘Spider-Man 4,’ So Is She In Or Out?
For quite some time now, “Spider-Man” star Kirsten Dunst has had one major condition as to whether or not she’d sign-up for any future sequels of the franchise — that director Sam Raimi and co-star Tobey Maguire be signed on as well.
Well, now that the news has broken that both Raimi and Maguire have signed back on for a fourth and fifth installment – with a hefty paycheck attached as well — MTV News posed the big question to Dunst while she was promoting her upcoming film, “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People” with Simon Pegg. Is she in or is she out?
“I’m in,” said the actress matter of factly. However, when pressed to make the announcement official, Dunst quickly changed her tone, and rather cryptically added, “I’m not saying anything, I know there’s rumors…”
- from MTV
Two more ‘Spider-Man’ films on the way
Tobey Maguire and Sam Raimi are looking to spin more webs for Sony’s Columbia Pictures.
The actor and helmer are said to be close to locking in a deal to return for the fourth and fifth installments of the studio’s top-grossing “Spider-Man” franchise, with Laura Ziskin and Avi Arad producing.
In hopes of containing costs, Columbia is considering shooting the films back-to-back starting in fall 2009, much like New Line did with “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, which filmed simultaneously for 274 days. Ziskin had said she would like to aim for a May 2011 release for “Spider-Man 4,” nine years after the original movie’s debut.
Jamie Vanderbilt (”Zodiac”) is writing the screenplay.
“Spider-Man” is Sony’s most successful movie franchise; the first three films have grossed $2.5 billion worldwide.
Although there has been speculation whether Maguire would return to play Peter Parker, the studio said there was no question he would be back.
“The studio never considered any other actor. Tobey was our only choice and the only person we’ve discussed the role with,” Sony spokesman Steve Elzer said.
Both Maguire and Raimi are repped by CAA.
The studio declined comment on what villains might appear in the next two films or whether Kirsten Dunst would reprise her role as Mary Jane Watson, though it is hoped she will follow Maguire’s lead and return.
Sony also has stepped up developing the “Spider-Man” spinoff “Venom,” first recruiting writer Jacob Estes to draft a script and most recently bringing in scribes Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, who penned “Zombieland” for the studio.
- from THR
Sony Locks In Sam Raimi & Toby Maguire in ‘Spider-Man 4′; Studio May Shoot ‘4′ and ‘5′ At The Same Time – Nikki Finke
It’s time to end once and for all the rampant speculation. Sony doesn’t want any info to leak but I’m told that both star Tobey Maguire and director Sam Raimi will be returning to make Zodiac screenwriter Jamie Vanderbilt’s script of Spider-Man 4. Sources tell me that Sony has recently locked in both veterans of Spider-Man 1 through 3. And I do mean recently because just a few weeks ago sources told me that Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal was openly discussing Tobey’s potential replacements with various Hollywood agents because Tobey was hanging tough about a deal. “She was looking around to cover herself because Sony wanted him badly and Tobey wasn’t sure he wanted to do it,” an insider explained to me. There’s no deal yet for Kirsten Dunst but Mary Jane Watson will be featured. I’m told Sony “would never recast her” despite her rehab problems.
Gone is the black costume from Spidey 3, even though “dark” is all the rage in superhero movies right now given the enormous success of The Dark Knight. But I’m told the filmmakers won’t be borrowing from the latest Batman installment because “Spider-Man is its own thing,” one insider tells me. “Sam Raimi made the first serious superhero movie, and others followed. The difference between Spider-Man and Batman is that Batman is duelling with a dark side of himself, and that’s not what Peter Parker’s struggle is. Peter Parker has no dark side himself. In Spider-Man 3 it was the black costume. Peter Parker’s struggle is about sacrifice.”
Sony is taking its time officially hiring the movie’s villain since principal photography doesn’t start on Spider-Man 4 until next fall because of the recently postponed May 2011 release. kirsten-spider-3.jpgI am told, however, that “once you find out who the villain is, you’ll know who’s playing it.”
I’m also told that, right now, the studio is trying to figure out if it can feasibly shoot Spider-Man 4 and 5 at the same time because doing that is so cost effective and “it wasn’t so easy to get everybody back together”.
- from Nikki Finke
Marvel Superheroes to Be Recast for Japan
The superheroes of Marvel Entertainment have been turned into toys, cartoons and, perhaps most profitably, live action films like “Iron Man” and the Spider-Man series. Now they are being adapted again — this time specifically for the Japanese market.
Marvel is teaming up with Madhouse, a renowned Japanese animation studio, to develop new versions of its characters for four anime series that will premiere in spring 2010 in Japan.
Rather than simply importing American characters and concepts, said Simon Philips, president of Marvel International, the goal is to create “something that is part of the fabric of society.” This means reimagining the back stories and redesigning the look of Marvel’s stable of characters to reflect Japanese culture. “It will create an entire parallel universe for Marvel,” he said.
“Marvel today is so open-minded,” said Jungo Maruta, the president and chief executive of Madhouse, through his interpreter, Alex Yeh, the chief operating officer of the studio, during a recent meeting in New York. “Marvel gives creators freedom to fly.”
- from NYTimes
Yuck. Venom the Movie…
With Heath Ledger’s villainous Joker drawing attention and boxoffice dollars, Sony is moving forward with “Venom,” a potential “Spider-Man” spinoff based on a bad guy.
The studio is developing the project, based on the gooey nemesis who appeared in “Spider-Man 3″ and is hoping the character could serve as an antidote to the aging “Spider-Man” franchise in the way that Fox has used Wolverine to add longevity to its “X-Men” franchise.
But getting any spinoff off the ground, let alone one centered on a villain, can be tricky.
The studio had commissioned a draft of the script from Jacob Estes, a writer of the specialty film “Mean Creek,” released several years ago by Paramount Classics. He’s also attached to the Plan B drama “The Gifted.”
But the studio is considering going in a different direction from Estes’ script and is seeking writers for a new draft.
Casting also is no simple matter. Topher Grace played the character in the film, but agents have been eyeing the role for their clients, as Sony is not yet convinced the actor can carry a tentpole picture.
Neither Sony nor Marvel would comment for this story.
In “Spider-Man 3,” Venom is essentially a parasite that attaches itself to a host via a sticky substance that then gives the host special powers. The fact that it is a substance rather than a character could give Sony leeway to cast a new actor.
- from THR
Batman beats Spider-Man
The new Batman movie “The Dark Knight” smashed the weekend record set by “Spider-Man 3″ last year, selling an estimated $155.3 million worth of tickets during its first three days of release across the United States and Canada, distributor Warner Bros. Pictures said on Sunday. The hotly anticipated film, co-starring late actor Heath Ledger as the anarchic Joker, surpassed the $151.1 million haul for “Spider-Man 3″ during its first weekend in May 2007. (more…)
Spider-Man 4 shooting for May 2011 release
Peter Parker is swinging back into the muliplex—but not for a while.
“Spider-Man” producer Laura Ziskin said the fourth installment in the web-slinging superhero series is tentatively scheduled to arrive in May 2011.
In remarks Thursday to theater owners from California and Nevada, Ziskin said there was no finished screenplay, but that she and Sony Pictures were hopeful “Spider-Man 4” could be ready in three years’ time.
The first three movies comprise one of the most successful franchises in modern Hollywood history, grossing a combined $2.5 billion worldwide. Neither star Tobey Maguire nor director Sam Raimi is yet committed to work on the next installment. But Sony has paid Marvel to renew its rights.
- from LAtimes
