The Hollywood Reporter has an interesting interview with Sony Chief Doug Belgrad. You can read it in full by clicking here, of course, and a couple tidbits like a potential Men in Black 4 were discussed. But the money quotes begin when they discuss The Amazing Spider-Man and the possibility of a sequel to it.
THR: Were there any problem areas with Amazing Spider-Man?
Belgrad: Yes. The section where Rhys Ifans‘ character turns irrevocably into the Lizard. It took several months to figure out, and the filmmakers cut a bunch of scenes. In software parlance, it required a patch.
THR: Will Marc Webb return to direct the sequel?
Belgrad: We’d really like him back, but there are obstacles. He has an obligation to Fox.
Marc Webb owes Fox another film due to his contract for (500) Days of Summer, which could interfere with plans for Sony to release the sequel in May 2014 as currently scheduled.
What does this mean? The rumor was going in that Sony was not happy with The Amazing Spider-Man and not happy with Marc Webb in particular. The phrase “we’d like to” is almost telling in a way; it’s non-committal and if Webb happens to be unavailable during their slotted production phase then he’s easily replaceable. Sony has committed to a date and if Webb can’t then it’s hard to imagine they’ll delay the film for his sake; they were willing to throw Sam Raimi overboard fairly quickly and start over instead of move to his vision of a fourth film. Marc Webb hasn’t made them nearly as much money and is thus probably fairly replaceable.
What do you think? Is moving on a good thing for the franchise or are you curious to see where Webb would go with another film? Let us know below.
