Spider-Man 4 on Hold or Just on Holiday?

Published by Jeff Leins on: December 17th, 2009

There’s a rumor floating around that Sony’s Spider-Man 4 is on hold indefinitely, according to anonymous inside sources at the studio.  You’ll want to prepare your giant grain of salt for this one, folks, because it’s a doozy.

The IESB is reporting executives were notified of a production halt while key decisions are made on the direction of the sequel.  Also, the word is, the title is tentatively SPIDER-M4N.

The rumor, which Sony denies, is the script continues to be polished in preparation for a 2010 shoot and the players can’t agree on the villain.  Raimi is supposedly pushing for the Vulture, which was rumored to be John Malkovich, and the rest want anyone else.  Black Cat and the Lizard have surfaced as possible characters.

Sony representatives claim the production halt is not indefinite, but a planned break for the holidays.  They also say the script will continue to be worked on right up until principal photography begins, not unlike every other movie ever made.

Also, and maybe I’m wrong, but wouldn’t Sam Raimi and the studio have already hashed out the whole villain element early on?  That seems like an integral part of the story to me and something they might have discussed well before four separate writers typed up a version of the script, the director was officially re-signed, and casting was underway.  There were squabbles over the villains in Spider-Man 3, which was why Venom was shoehorned in with Sandman and the Goblin, but that was probably well before meetings were had with potential cast members.  I don’t buy it.

Regardless of whether or not this is true, Spider-Man 4 will get made.  With or without the number replacing the ‘A.’  It’s the biggest franchise in Sony’s history, and they’re not going to let it die over a beef about the baddies.