No Shock Here: Spider-Man 4 Delayed!

I for one, was waiting for this announcement. Despite the many denials by Sony, Spider-Man 4 is indeed being put on hold due to a script disagreement between director Sam Raimi and the studio. We've been following for months the practically dozens of casting rumors associated with the film, but the only thing that seemed to be missing was the most important: a script. Nikki Finke at Deadline.com released an email that had been sent out to the Spider-Man Visual Effects team that pretty much seals the deal...

We were just notified that our schedule is pushing. We will NOT be starting as planned. I’m terribly sorry for this news, and I hope this email reaches you in time to find other options. We do not know how long we are pushing, and we will not know until mid-January. By mid-January, we will be told how long the push is, whether it be 2 weeks, 2 months, or something else. The studio has every intention of making the movie, but we no longer have a confirmed start date.


Again, I’m terribly sorry, but Sam Raimi has story issues [that] need to be resolved before we are ready to shoot.


Spider-Man's initial release date was May 11, 2011 but now there is no set date. Raimi is said to be anxiously awaiting another version of the script from long-time Spidey writer, Alvin Sargent, who wrote both the best(Spidey 2) and worst(Spidey 3) films in the series. It also appears that Raimi and Co. are no longer looking to continue with Anne Hathaway as the female Vulture, but plans remain in place for John Malkovich to play the classic male version of the character.