Confirming a rumor that’s been kicking around online, Columbia and Marvel Studios announced in a press release that Marc Webb will be directing the 2012 reboot of the Spider-Man franchise. In addition to Spidey 4, he’ll be helming the next two movies after that as well.
The studio is showing a surprising amount of confidence in Webb, whose only other feature film experience is 2009’s romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer.
In returning him to his high-school roots, the upcoming movie is said to focus more on the personal side of Spider-Man, which plays to Webb’s strengths. Most importantly, at least for the studio, at a reported $10 million Webb will be getting paid far less than former director Sam Raimi.
The best Spidey comic on the market for years now has been Ultimate Spider-Man, which features a high-school aged Peter Parker. (If USM writer Brian Bendis were writing this movie, I’d be MUCH more confident.) I think his time in high school is at the very essence of the character. So I’m not averse to a reboot of the franchise. I’m just not sure whether Webb has the directorial chops to pull it off.
Let’s hope he’s up to the task since it looks like we’ll be stuck with him for a while.
