Say Bye-Bye to Spider-Man 4! Franchise Reboot in 2012!

Holy crap. With all the rumors flying around about delays and casting disputes between Sam Raimi and Sony, I never figured it'd go this far! Deadline.com is reporting that Sony has completely scrapped plans for Spider-Man 4. In the process, that means no more Sam Raimi. It also means no more Tobey Maguire. No John Malkovich. No nothing.

Apparently, Sam Raimi notified Sony that he could not make the 2011 release date so he was pulling out completely. Once that was his stance, they decided to pull a complete 180 and start anew. Maguire found out and left to pursue other projects rather than start over with a new director. Plans are now for a total franchsie reboot in 2012, based on a script by Jamie Vanderbilt.

This is huge. A Spider-Man reboot means it's likely that they will start over fresh with Peter Parker in high school. Look for an up 'n coming star to take on the highly coveted role. It also means that any rival studios who were worried about competing against Spider-Man next year need no longer fret. We already saw how Thor jumped quickly into Spider-Man's old slot when it appeared the film was only to be delayed. Expect more such announcements in the future.