We still don’t know if Tobey Maguire or even the franchise’s director Sam Raimi will be back, but Sony Pictures is committed to making Spider-Man 4 anyway. No surprise, there’s too much money to be made for them to let it simply end after this summer and Spidey 3.

The first sure signs of Sony’s determination to move on with or without come from Coming Soon where they’ve discovered that screenwriter David Koepp is currently in negotiations with Sony to write the Spider-Man 4 script. CS says that their eagerness to sign Koepp stems from excitement over early footage seen from Spider-Man 3, but that doesn’t make a lot of sense since Koepp had nothing to do with it. David Koepp wrote the first Spider-Man movie but since then has had nothing to do with the franchise. Instead he’s just finished writing the script George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are using to shoot Indiana Jones 4. Alvin Sargent wrote Spidey 3 and Spidey 2. Why not talk to him?

The only reason I can think of not to go to Sargent is that he doesn’t want to do it. Could it be because Raimi may not direct it? Possibly. Or maybe he’s just busy. Whatever the reason, bringing back Koepp could be a nice move, a way to keep some sort of continuity going of Raimi and Maguire do indeed depart after Spider-Man 3.