Even though most studios are moving toward taking new superheroes to big screen movies, Sony still has one do-gooder who stands to continue making them a lot of money. When Spider-Man 3 came out and shattered all existing box office records, Sony executives crowed the next day that they would make two more, three more sequels to the movie, the implication being "We'll make 'em until you stop paying to see 'em, which is never. Bwa ha ha!"

We haven't heard much more news about sequels since then, but now IESB.net has it from Marvel Entertainment Vice Chairman Peter Cuneo that we'll probably be hearing something soon. "It''s really up to Sony, it's up to them, most likely scenario is 2010 or 2011 but we can't speak for them. [...] They have given us their re-up payment for that film so you know they're going to make it within a reasonable timeframe. Sony may be looking at some issues with the cast and so on, I think they have to make some decisions."

Yeah, that's probably an understatement. At the end of Spider-Man 3, pretty much everyone involved, from Sam Raimi on down, didn't seem terribly interested in making a fourth movie. Why would they be? They were all in a position where they could go on to make anything they wanted, and they have. Raimi is returning to his horror roots with the upcoming Drag Me To Hell, James Franco is about to blow up big time in Pineapple Express, and Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst have taken on their own projects too. Why would they revisit a franchise that they started working on nearly 10 years ago?

Well, money is the only reason. And it's the only reason for Sony to revisit the franchise, which is what makes this whole thing even more gross and cynical than most big-budget tentpole movies. After Spider-Man 3 kind of lurched all over the place and didn't really add anything to the series, it's hard to imagine Spider-Man 4 being any better, or any different. Can't they come up with a new character to make their cash cow? The original Spider-Man movie, and more recently, Iron Man, proved that an actually good movie will be embraced by the public, even if they know nothing about the character. Start over, Sony, and don't tarnish the legacy of what really was one of the best series of this decade.