It still feels, somehow, like Spider-Man 4 is just a distant possibility on the horizon, something along the lines of one of Quentin Tarantino's rumored projects or the Barbarella remake, something that might happen but just as easily won't. But Spider-Man 4, in fact, is very very real, with pre-production chugging along Sam Raimi so confident in how things are going that he's got in mind a day to start shooting.

"We're hoping that it's the first week in March," Raimi told MTV News. "The production is starting to come together. I've got a production designer who is starting to design the sets and the environments that the picture will take place in. We just brought aboard Scott Stokdyk as one of the two visual effects supervisors, and I worked with him on all three Spider-Man pictures."

Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst are back in their lead roles, as we already knew, but none of the other casting has happened yet. I guess Raimi figures anyone will drop whatever plans they have for next summer in order to be part of the movie, which is probably correct. And maybe a shortened casting process will only leave them time to cast one villain, not three, which would be better for everyone.