No offense to ‘Across the Spider-Verse,’ which I liked very much, but Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 2” is the best Spidey movie ever made, — hell, it’s probably one of the best comic book movies ever made.
Back in 2024, Thomas Haden Church, who appeared as Flint Marko in Raimi’s “Spider-Man 3,” claimed that he’d heard, “Sam [Raimi] is gonna do another Spider-Man with Tobey [Maguire],” and that it’s “the one they were supposed to call “Spider-Man 4” before the Raimi-verse got shut down and the franchise was rebooted twice afterward.
Around that time, Raimi amped up the rumors by saying that he indeed wanted to return and direct his long-gestating “Spider-Man 4” with Maguire.
Well, Raimi has finally put those rumors to rest — it ain’t happening. Speaking to ScreenRant, he’s basically made his peace with it never happening:
After my three movies, I handed the torch off to someone else. And I think they’ve got to keep running with the storyline and the audience that is now following the torchbearer […] Peter Parker and MJ have gone elsewhere. It wouldn’t be right for me to go back and try and resurrect my version of this story.
Raimi’s fourth Spider-Man movie came awfully close to getting made in the late aughts, with Sony pushing it deep into pre-production mode. The project never happened because, well, “Spider-Man 3” turned everybody off, including Raimi. The filmmaker hasn’t been shy in acknowledging that injecting that third film with an emo Peter Parker was a terrible idea.
Raimi ended up leaving the project soon after, and then those Marc Webb-directed Andrew Garfield Spidey movies were made.
Honestly, I would be way more excited about a Raimi/Spider-Man movie, even with a 50-year-old Tobey Maguire, than any of the Tom Holland ones. At least Raimi nailed the second one. I find the Holland Spideys — ‘Homecoming,’ ‘Far From Home,’ and ‘No Way Home’ — barely memorable.
In the meantime, Raimi’s “Send Help” — a deliciously twisted and entertaining movie — is hitting theaters next Friday. If Raimi continues telling original, non-IP stories like “Send Help,” then, seriously, why would we ever want him to make another Marvel movie?
The ‘Smile’ franchise has a new director. David Bruckner, who made “The Night House” and the 2022 “Hellraiser” reboot, has been hired to direct “Smile 3” for Paramount.