Yesterday's shocking announcement that one of the decade's most successful film franchises has thrown in the towel on a fourth installment hit fans as hard as a Sandman punch to the face. Now, Raimi and Tobey and Kirsten and everyone else are going to move on to other projects, and all we can do is miss them — and, of course, look back on the better days.
Remembering back to the 2001 press conference in a wrestling ring that started it all — yep, I was there! — all the way up to Monday's sad goodbye, it somehow seems like "Spider-Man 4" was the most dramatic movie in the series, simply through its production twists and turns. And so, it is with great affection that we look back on the rollercoaster ride of the Spidey movie we'll never see.
April 24, 2007: On the eve of the "Spider-Man 3" debut, Raimi and his cast were cautiously optimistic about extending the franchise. Kirsten Dunst said she'd love to return and wanted MJ and Peter to have "like, eight babies."
May 7, 2007: "Spider-Man 3" opens to an amazing $148 million weekend, breaking the records for biggest opening frame and biggest day. Although it is generally considered to be the weakest of the three Raimi films — what was up with emo Peter Parker? — fans undoubtedly want more.
June 26, 2007: In some of his first public comments regarding another sequel, Raimi makes headlines by saying he's considering such possible villains as Vulture and the Sinister Six.
July 31, 2008: Word leaks that Sony is considering making an entire movie that would revolve around "Spider-Man 3" villain Venom. The creator of Venom tells us that Spidey's black-suited supervillain would make a great subject of his own movie.
September 5, 2008: Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire sign on to a fourth (and possibly fifth) film in the blockbuster franchise. The name of Kirsten Dunst is suspiciously absent, and the villain in the film is largely suspected to be Dylan Baker's long-developed super villain the Lizard.
October 31, 2008: Holy pedigree! Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire is hired to pen the script, says his focus will be "outsiders in search of clarity."
March 12, 2009: Sony and Marvel Studios announce a fast-but-not-completely-unreasonable release date of May 6, 2011 for "Spider-Man 4."
April 23, 2009: Sony bosses reveal plans to possibly shoot the fourth film in 3-D, which would make it the first superhero movie ever shot with the "Avatar" technology.
May 19, 2009: Sam Raimi tells MTV that he is four weeks away from seeing playwright Lindsay-Abaire's first draft. He also says that he has spoken with Dunst about returning and that "she's very excited about the possibility."
September 15, 2009: Dunst's role in the fourth film is seemingly confirmed, as are plans to release the movie in IMAX.
November 17, 2009
Richer Sounds sale to begin boxing day‘Spider-Man 4′ Scrapped, Studio Plans 2012 Reboot
