Columbia Pictures has acquired domestic rights to Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal’s (The Hurt Locker) next movie, which has the working title Kill Bin Laden.  The press release says, “the film focuses on the black ops mission to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, which culminated in his death earlier this month during a high-stakes raid on his compound in Pakistan. Bigelow and Boal have been developing the project since 2008 and plan to incorporate recent events into the film.”

We knew the project was moving forward because Joel Edgerton was recently cast as one of the special operatives.  However, the press release says they’re going to start filming this summer and it’ll be released in late 2012.  As one of the many who thought The Hurt Locker was a brilliant movie that not enough people got to see, I’m happy that Bigelow and Boal’s next release will be everywhere.  Hit the jump for the full press release which has some quotes.

Without a doubt, 2010 was a big year for Andrew Garfield. Along with his outstanding supporting role in the critically acclaimed Oscar darling The Social Network, he was equally impressive in the powerful Never Let Me Go. To top it all off, he also landed the role of Spider-Man in Marc Webb’s reboot of the web slinging franchise. However, don’t try and get any straight answers from him about the role itself. When asked about taking over this immensely popular role, he tells Details,

“I see it as a massive challenge in many ways. To make it authentic. To make the character live and breathe in a new way. The audience already has a relationship with many different incarnations of the character. I do, as well. I’m probably going to be the guy in the movie theater shouting abuse at myself. But I have to let that go. No turning back. And I wouldn’t want to.”

Hit the jump for more.  Marc Webb’s 3D Spider-Man reboot is due out July 3, 2012.

Andrew Garfield (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus) will play Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Marc Webb’s Spider-Man reboot.  Garfield’s casting follows months of speculation about who would don the webs.  Garfield was among the final list of contenders along with Jamie Bell, Anton Yelchin, Aaron Johnson, Logan Lerman, Alden Ehrenreich, Frank Dillane, Michael Angarano, and Josh Hutcherson.  Hutcherson had reportedly been offered the role yesterday.

Whether that’s true or if he turned it down is irrelevant (although I can’t imagine anyone turning it down).  Columbia Pictures has sent out a press release confirming Garfield as Spider-Man.  I liked Garfield in Parnassus, and he’s going to get a lot more exposure later this year when he’s seen in David Fincher’s Facebook movie The Social Network and Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go.  Hit the jump for quotes from Webb and the producers regarding Garfield’s casting.  Spider-Man is set to open in 3D on July 3, 2012.

Update: We’ve been given some pictures and video from today’s event in Mexico where director Marc Webb and producers Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin made the big announcement.  You can see Andrew Garfield looked shocked as he stepped onto the world stage.  Hit the jump to check everything out.  It’s after the highlights from the press release:

The next installment of the Spider-Man franchise could lose its coveted May 11, 2011 opening (due to script problems).  Director Sam Raimi has yet to settle on a script, a process that has already involved screenwriters Jamie Vanderbilt, David Lindsay-Abaire, and Gary Ross.  Currently in the hands of Alvin Sargant, who wrote Spider-Man 2 and 3, Sony is still planning on a Summer 2011 release but studio sources are saying, “It is unlikely that May 11, 2011, date will be made.”

Originally set to start filming in February, production was pushed back to early March then late March or early April.  Currently there is no official start date.  While Sony co-chairman Amy Pascal assured fans they were still working toward the original date saying, “I’m going to do everything I can to make May,” she acknowledged the importance of having a completed script, “…I’m not going to start a movie where the script isn’t right yet. Not unless I want my career to be over.”

Hit the jump for more on Spider-Man 4 in 3D and casting.