Despite fanboy bitching and critics complaining, Spider-Man 3 has made a hell of a lot of money. Even if you only know a little bit about Hollywood, you know that means another sequel. But even before Spider-Man 3 hit screens this summer, the question was who would be back. Now we’ve started getting some ideas of the likelihood of one of the major players coming back for a fourth chapter: director Sam Raimi.
Raimi talked to Larry Carroll with MTV News at a recent ceremony honoring winners in a Target contest of Spider-spoofs. He confirmed that Sony was definitely making more movies, but that he didn’t know what his role with them would be. “If I can't find the right story that would work for me and that I could tell really well, I would like someone else to tell that story, but if it's a great story and Sony will bring me back to the screen, I would love to." It sounds like Sam is sticking to his storytelling principles here and only wants to be involved as a filmmaker if it’s a story he can get behind.
In the interview Raimi admits that he would have a hard time carrying on without franchise stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst and also mourns the loss of James Franco from the franchise. Concerns over the stars leaving has gone back as far as the talk about a fourth movie started. Maguire has perpetually been ready to finish his role as Peter Parker and Dunst was hoping the movies would steer a very different direction from the comic books in interviews prior to the third chapter of the franchise. Raimi hopes that he’ll still be on board as a producer, however, if not actually directing.
As far as ideas about Spidey’s opponent(s) for the next film, Raimi says he’d love to see Electro, the Vulture, or possibly the Sinister Six as a full team of villains. He also would like to reward Dylan Baker’s patience with a villainous turn – his character, Dr. Curt Connors, becomes the Lizard in the Spidey canon. Regardless of his desires, Raimi has the right mindset, however, and points out that it’s really the journey of Spider-Man and Peter Parker that determines who would be the right villain for the next film.
For an interview that basically says he’s not certain what he’ll be doing in the future, Raimi shows that he’s still the right man to carry on these movies. Keeping things character driven and playing things off of the character’s journey, not just what he wants to toss in the plot, is exactly what Spider-Man needs to keep doing. The only weakness Spider-Man 3 showed was when it stepped away from this and tossed things in just to get them in the movie instead of serving the product as a whole. Even without Dunst or Maguire, here’s hoping Raimi keeps those webs slinging forward.
