With 'Spider-Man 3' On Its Way To Theaters, It's Time For The Pants-Crapping Over 'Spidey 4' To Begin

With 'Spider-Man 3' On Its Way To Theaters, It's Time For The Pants-Crapping Over 'Spidey 4' To Begin
Following Monday's Tokyo world premiere of Spider-Man 3, Spidey-Friends™ Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire, and Kirsten Dunst should have nothing on their minds but basking in the sweet adulation of the throng of Japanese fans who briefly assembled to cheer on their latest cinematic achievement at the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower before retiring to the temporary, movie-themed love hotels a generous Sony had set up on site for the occasion. (We're told the Venom suite, with its paint-on, edible licorice costumes, was especially popular.) Unfortunately, some pushy Entertainment Weekly questions involving director Raimi's possible inheriting of The Hobbit from Peter Jackson will now regrettably shift the focus from celebrating the current film to fretting about the future of the franchise, which a distressed Dunst modestly believes would meet with Batman & Robin-style rubber-nippled doom should the studio try and go forward on a fourth installment without her pals. Reports EW:

Dunst says she hadn't heard any rumors about Raimi and The Hobbit until EW raised the subject in an interview. She says she can't imagine returning for Part 4 without both her director and her costar: ''It's disrespectful to the whole team, I think, to do that. And audiences aren't stupid. It'd be a big flop without me, Tobey, or Sam. That would really not be the smartest move. But they know that already. [Sony chief] Amy Pascal would never do that.'' Maguire has already expressed his ambivalence about returning for another sequel.
Sony's President of Production Matt Tolmach tells EW that the studio is cautiously optimistic about retaining the team that launched the Spidey franchise so spectacularly: ''Listen, we're making Spider-Man 4. Our hope, dream, and intention is to do it with Sam. But I don't have a crystal ball.''

With Spider-Man 3 about to premiere to an inevitably huge U.S. opening, maybe Tolmach should abandon his public strategy of cautious optimism and start playing some preemptive hardball, appealing to the trio's pride in the hard work they've done in the three completed movies by letting it be known that while Sony would love to have them all back, he thinks they can still do $300 million domestic even if they hand over the next movie to Shia LaBeouf*, Christina Ricci, and Brett Ratner.

[*Now a huge star!]
Published 4/16/07 by


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