A Spider-man reboot?
So it looks like Sony is really going ahead with their planned Spider-man reboot. Yes, it's a reboot. It's not "Spider-man 4," but a new movie that doesn't follow the continuity of the previous three Spider-man movies. They even cast a new Peter Parker. His name is Andrew Garfield, and if you really want you can get a look at him on video here.
I don't know anything about this kid, and he hasn't had much of a career yet, but he's apparently been very impressive in the roles that he's been in. All I can say is that he certainly looks like the Peter Parker of the comics, probably more so than Tobey Maguire did. I guess that's a good thing.
Still, I have to wonder why Sony feels the need to reboot the whole Spider-man franchise. The first Spider-man movie came out less than ten years ago, and it was a huge hit that spawned two sequels. Those movies should still be fresh in people's minds, so it's not like they need to give us a new Spider-man for a new generation. Sony can't even justify a reboot by saying that they're going to "get it right this time" and make people forget about Raimi's films since those films were actually good (even the third film, which wasn't as good as the first two but wasn't a failure on the level of Batman and Robin).
I wish I could say that I'm baffled by the fact that we're getting a reboot of a franchise that made billions of dollars and made people fall in love with Spider-man only eight years ago, but the truth is that I'm not surprised. Reboots are all the rage right now, and Hollywood is so full of creatively-bankrupt trend whores that just about every franchise that was ever popular will probably get the same treatment sooner or later.
If Sony really wants a new Spider-man movie I think they should just scratch the idea of a reboot and make Spider-man 4. Get Sam Raimi or someone with a similar style to direct it, and get Tobey Maguire to play Spider-man. If they want to start fresh they can begin a whole new story arc (since I think of the first three movies as one story that came to an end in Spider-man 3) with new villains and a new love interest. They can allude to the first three movies for the sake of continuity, but they wouldn't be required viewing for the new movie. Sony would get their precious reboot, fans of the Raimi films would get a sequel that carries the tradition of the other movies without rehashing them, and continuity nerds wouldn't have to worry about their heads exploding. Everybody wins.
I don't know anything about this kid, and he hasn't had much of a career yet, but he's apparently been very impressive in the roles that he's been in. All I can say is that he certainly looks like the Peter Parker of the comics, probably more so than Tobey Maguire did. I guess that's a good thing.
Still, I have to wonder why Sony feels the need to reboot the whole Spider-man franchise. The first Spider-man movie came out less than ten years ago, and it was a huge hit that spawned two sequels. Those movies should still be fresh in people's minds, so it's not like they need to give us a new Spider-man for a new generation. Sony can't even justify a reboot by saying that they're going to "get it right this time" and make people forget about Raimi's films since those films were actually good (even the third film, which wasn't as good as the first two but wasn't a failure on the level of Batman and Robin).
I wish I could say that I'm baffled by the fact that we're getting a reboot of a franchise that made billions of dollars and made people fall in love with Spider-man only eight years ago, but the truth is that I'm not surprised. Reboots are all the rage right now, and Hollywood is so full of creatively-bankrupt trend whores that just about every franchise that was ever popular will probably get the same treatment sooner or later.
If Sony really wants a new Spider-man movie I think they should just scratch the idea of a reboot and make Spider-man 4. Get Sam Raimi or someone with a similar style to direct it, and get Tobey Maguire to play Spider-man. If they want to start fresh they can begin a whole new story arc (since I think of the first three movies as one story that came to an end in Spider-man 3) with new villains and a new love interest. They can allude to the first three movies for the sake of continuity, but they wouldn't be required viewing for the new movie. Sony would get their precious reboot, fans of the Raimi films would get a sequel that carries the tradition of the other movies without rehashing them, and continuity nerds wouldn't have to worry about their heads exploding. Everybody wins.