Spider-Man 4 will always be one of those great “What if?” films.  What if Sam Raimi had a chance to redeem himself from Spider-Man 3?  What if we had gotten to see John Malkovich as Vulture and Anne Hathaway as Black Cat?  We’ll never know, but the artifacts remain.  Storyboard artist Jefrey Henderson has released storyboard he did for Spider-Man 4, and while they’re far from anything official (the script was still being worked on when Sony pulled the plug), I am curious about the demon/goblin thing being tossed by Spidey.  The three boards are the only thing Henderson felt he could post without upsetting Raimi, so they’re pretty innocuous (Peter kissing a woman, and using a web to stop falling debris), but perhaps there’s more exciting stuff out there and one day we’ll get to see it.

Hit the jump to check out the storyboards.

Once upon a time, Spider-Man director Sam Raimi was set to direct the adaptation of Blizzard’s uber-successful MMORPG, World of Warcraft. It was a time for celebration amongst movie fans and gamers alike as Raimi seemed like a bold, exciting choice for the project which promised to rival the scope of films such as The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. And then, with the wave of a wizard’s staff, Raimi was off the project. While World Of Warcraft is now getting back on track with Duncan Jones (Source Code) in the director’s chair, we never quite knew what was the cause behind Raimi’s departure.

Until today that is. Hit the jump for the full story, including further details on why he also left Spider-Man 4, and what he thinks of Marvel’s wonder boy, Joss Whedon.

A few weeks ago, Sony Pictures invited us to attend the press junket The Amazing Spider-Man.  The reboot takes a grittier, more realistic approach to Peter Parker’s journey to becoming your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and sees the wall-crawler struggling to come to grips with the mysterious disappearance of his parents.  For more on the film, click here for all of our previous coverage.

During my interview with producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach, we talked about rebooting the franchise, the decision to pass on Spider-Man 4, potential crossovers with other superhero movies, the crowded superhero movie marketplace, and more.  Hit the jump to check out the interview, and click on the corresponding links for my interviews with co-stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans,  Denis Leary, and Martin Sheen.

Though we’ve been flooded with an insane amount of The Dark Knight Rises content as of late, we’ve actually got another high profile superhero pic headed our way before Christopher Nolan’s Batman takes his bow.  The Spider-Man reboot that was borne out of a scrapped development on Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4 hits theaters this July courtesy of director Marc Webb and new Spidey Andrew Garfield.  Our partners at Omelete recently sat down for a lengthy chat with producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach to discuss the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man.

The duo talked about what made them realize Spider-Man was in need of a reboot, having the opportunity to put a larger focus on the disappearance of Peter Parker’s parents, including Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacey as an intellectual equal to Peter Parker, taking a more practical approach to the effects, the Lizard, and much more.  Hit the jump to watch the interview.

Sharks are the ultimate predators, who have inspired terror and fascination in humans for centuries, even inspiring the Discovery Channel to launch Shark Week programming. The new horror thriller Shark Night 3D plays on those fears with a suspense-filled story about a group of college students hunted by various varieties of the hungry, flesh-eaters. When their boat malfunctions and they are stranded in the middle of the lake, with no way to call for help, they struggle to fend off the sharks and stay alive long enough to reach the safety of dry land.

At the film’s press day, actor Chris Zylka did this exclusive interview with Collider, in which he talked about playing the cocky jokester of the group, making sure his character was likeable enough so that audiences will route for him to survive, how humans can sometimes be just as terrifying as sharks, that his favorite type of shark is the hammerhead, what a pleasure it was to work with director David Ellis, and the difference between working with animatronic sharks versus CG piranhas for Piranha 3DD (due out in November). He also talked about the experience of playing Flash Thompson in The Amazing Spider-Man, and what it was like to work with director Marc Webb. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

With Marc Webb’s Spider-Man reboot currently filming on location in LA, amateur photographers have jumped at the chance to snap shots of Spidey running around the streets. Just a couple of days ago, we brought you footage of a stuntman in the Spider-Man suit performing an action scene in the street. It appears that this same sequence has been filming for the last few days, and someone finally got a really clear shot of the stuntman in action.

Hit the jump to check out the image. The untitled 3D Spider-Man reboot starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone is set for release on July 3, 2012.

We have a couple additional casting tidbits to send your way tonight.  First up, C. Thomas Howell (The Outsiders) has been cast in an unspecified role for Marc Webb’s Spider-Man reboot.  Per Cinema Blend (via Italy’s own Bad Taste), Howell confirmed his casting via his personal Facebook page and is set to join the film’s shoot (which is already in progress in L.A.) on January 25th.  Howell joins a cast that includes Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Sally Field, and Martin Sheen.  The Spider-Man reboot hits theaters July 3rd, 2012.

Next up, the cast for Alex Kurtzman’s (co-writer Cowboys and Aliens) Welcome to People keeps on growing as Michelle Pfeiffer has agreed to join Kurtzman’s directorial debut.  Per EW, Pfeiffer is set to play Chris Pine’s widowed mother in the film which tells the story of an estranged son (Pine) who returns home for his father’s funeral and begins to uncover his secret life in the process.  In addition to Pine and Pfeiffer, Welcome to People also stars Elizabeth Banks and Olivia Wilde.  It begins shooting next week in L.A. with a 2012 theatrical release in mind.

Back in January, when Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire were still attached to Spider-Man 4, rumors were everywhere that John Malkovich was going to be in the film and he’d play the Vulture.

Well, it looks like the online rumors were very real, as I recently got to speak with Malkovich as part of a roundtable and he confirmed the online reports.  He also talked about his thoughts on being part of the Spider-Man universe and why, perhaps, the project fell apart.  Hit the jump for more:

On Saturday, we reported that, according to HitFix, actor Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson) was “almost 100% locked” to star in Marc Webb’s Spider-Man reboot.  Tonight, Deadline is reporting that “Lerman was 100% not going to be Spidey and that he is not on the list of candidates being seriously considered.”  This is February all over again when Lerman said he was in early discussions to play the part and Sony responded that, “No offers have been made, nor have any business discussions been made with Lerman.”

Obviously, this is a major role and everyone wants to know who will have the near-impossible task of following Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man.  Maybe we’ll all wake up tomorrow and learn that Lerman is Peter Parker, but only in the metaphysical sense that, on some level, we are all Peter Parker.  As always, I’m going to keep my fingers crossed for metaphysical casting news.

For a brief refresher on the Spidey reboot story thus far, hit the jump.

Back in early February, 18-year-old Logan Lerman, the star of Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, said he was in early discussions to play Peter Parker in Sony’s reboot of the Spider-Man franchise for director Marc Webb.

Shortly after the news hit the net, Sony made sure (via THR) to let everyone know Lerman was one of many actors being considered for the role as they said, “No offers have been made, nor have any business discussions been made with Lerman.”

But a new report on HitFix says Logan Lerman is the first choice for Sony Pictures reboot and is “almost 100% locked”, but is not yet in contract negotiations for the role.  More after the jump:

[UPDATE: Sony has confirmed the story, but only mentions one movie, not three. Full press release after the jump.]

While I thought Sony was going to wait awhile and take meetings with a lot of people before deciding on who to give the Spider-Man franchise to…it looks like I was mistaken.  That’s because Vulture is reporting director Marc Webb ((500) Days of Summer) is not only going to direct the next Spider-Man movie…he’s going to direct the next three!!  They’re also reporting the rebooted franchise is going to focus “far more on the private life of Peter Parker.”

With Webb’s name floating around the franchise for the last few weeks, it’s not exactly a surprise that he’s being given the keys to the Ferrari.  But I’ll admit to being shocked that he’s getting a three picture deal as he hasn’t demonstrated his ability with a huge budget and massive special effects.  I’m not saying he can’t do it…I just think there is going to be something in the contract that lets the studio get rid of him if it doesn’t work out.

If Vulture’s report is true, expect a press release very soon.  The next big question is going to be…who gets cast as Peter Parker and does he look like he could be in High School.  I really don’t want a twenty five year old playing seventeen.  More as we hear it.

More details have arisen regarding today’s massive news that Sony would be scrapping Spider-Man 4, kicking out Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire, et al., and rebooting the series.  EW reports that Sony wants “a more gritty, contemporary redo of the series,” and are focused on younger, up-and-coming directors.  I’m going to try and be optimistic and not take that to mean Sony wants someone who can make a good film, but more importantly won’t have enough weight to push any independent artistic decisions.

EW also reports that Sony was always aiming to reboot the series in 2012 no matter what, but they did want one last outing with Raimi, Maguire, and co.  This means that Sony just pushed up the timetable on setting up a crappy precedent where they don’t have to use over forty years of material from the comics, but can just keep redoing the series to suit the demographic with the most purchasing power at the time.  That’s why when Sony means Peter Parker is going back to high-school, it means they’re skewing towards the Twilight crowd because they know the fanboys will nut up, take it, and then complain about it after they’ve already paid x-amount of dollars to see it (most likely in 3D; Sony hasn’t announced that for this new movie, but it’s a safe assumption they’ll jump on that bandwagon as well).

Hit the jump for more details on the Spidey reboot story, including the status of the script, why Sony is rushing to get this film made, and when we can expect to hear who the new director and star of the series will be.

So here’s your news story of the day: Deadline is reporting that Spider-Man 4 is no more, which was confirmed by a press release Sony Pictures sent out.  The next Spider-Man movie will be a reboot with a new director, cast, working off a script by James Vanderbilt.  The point of contention on Spider-Man 4 was that Raimi said he couldn’t make Sony’s Summer 2011 release date and make a creatively rewarding film.  Deadline also reports that Maguire wasn’t upset at the decision and feels he’s made three quality Spider-Man films.  Most fans would agree with two-thirds of his assessment.  However, Maguire could move to The Shire as he was rumored to play the lead in Guillermo Del Toro’s The Hobbit (a rumor which Maguire denied, but other sources say that he’s fibbing)  As for Raimi, this could open up his move to World of Warcraft or Dennis Lehane’s The Given Day.

Of course, I believe the news of Spider-Man 4‘s collapse is a bummer for fans of the franchise.  Raimi won’t have a chance to redeem himself from the third film, and reboots are so overdone, and in the case of Spider-Man, completely unnecessary.  The first film came out in 2002 and Spider-Man 3, for all its faults, in no way killed the franchise.  We do not need a refresher.  There’s also a lot of blatant (and expected) spinning in the press release.  The one that stings the most is Michael Lynton, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures, saying, ” We have always believed that story comes first,” This casts aspersions on Raimi’s ability as a storyteller, they’re going back to a story they’ve already told, and I think even without Deadline’s report, it was clear that this was motivated more by release date than by story.

Hit the jump to read the press release and its poor argument for moving the character backwards instead of forwards.

Spider-Man 4 has a number of things still up in the air, including the recent delay of shooting and who will be the villain(s) in the upcoming Sam Raimi superhero flick. Today, things got a bit clearer, as John Malkovich talked with “Quelli Che il Calcio,” an Italian soccer TV show, about his involvement in the film.

Badtatse.it reports that while Malkovich did not deny he would play the role of the Vulture, he did confirm that he was waiting for the script. Malkovich added that he hoped filming would begin soon.

For full details and what this means for Spider-Man 4, hit the jump.

As we reported a few days ago, Sam Raimi’s highly anticipated Spider-Man 4 is rumored to have hit a sizable snag in the scripting process, which has delayed production and resulted in the flick being bumped from its intended release date of May 6, 2011.  Today, star Tobey Maguire did his best to spread a little bit of sunshine on the seemingly gloomy situation. Speaking with the LA Times’ The Envelope [via THR's Heat Vision Blog] Maguire claims to be unfazed by the whole kafuffle, saying:

“Like anything, it’s a process. We’re just in the midst of the process. We have a lot of great stuff in terms of story and script. We’re just trying to dial it in and get it ready as quickly as possible. Of course, these movies are a very big undertaking and take a lot more time than a drama or something more straightforward.”

Hit the jump for additional info, more from Maguire, and my thoughts on this tangled web.