Originally Posted by Deadline

More trouble between Rentrak and big theater chain AMC today which is why North American box office is coming to you later than usual. In exhibition-speak, Rentrak is still populating AMC grosses due to feed deficiencies that affect the outcome. In Hollywood-speak, Fox’s Scrat has more than earned his acorn. And in normal English, it’s very possible these numbers could jump higher by the end of the day. But right now my sources have Twentieth Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios’ Ice Age 4: Continental Drift opening well as expected between $14.5M and $16M for today and $40M-$44M for the weekend. That’s from 3,879 theaters, of which 2,731 are 3D. Sony’s successful The Amazing Spider-Man 3D reboot should come in at around $11M today (-46% compared to last Friday) and $34M (-45%) for the weekend. Universal hit comedy Ted is starting its third weekend with $19M-$20M. Pixar/Disney blockbuster toon Brave is looking $10M-$11M, Warner Bros’ low-budget surprise Magic Mike could be $8M-$9M, same as Universal’s holdover Savages from Oliver Stone. More later…

Originally Posted by davidh777

What comes out next weekend?

Originally Posted by FRwL

Wait what?

Originally Posted by scott1598

i'm not sure how they can possibly top Step Up 3D, but whatever.

Originally Posted by Matthew Chmiel

Step Up Revolution and it'll set the box office ON FIRE!

Originally Posted by fumanstan

I'm surprised at how well Ted is still doing.

Originally Posted by Mr. Cinema

Remember, Fox passed on "Ted". And it's going to gross more than Prometheus and Abraham Lincoln combined. You'd think the place where Seth MacFarlane works on a daily basis would have took a chance on his movie.

Ted gave Universal a much needed hit. Snow White has also made a quiet, respectable $150 mil in the US. And they have Bourne Legacy in August, which should still do well despite no Damon.

Originally Posted by KillerCannibal

I'm anxious to see how TDKR does next week. Can it break $200m with a long running time and no 3D bump?

Originally Posted by Matthew Chmiel

Spider-Man 3 cost $258 million to produce (before prints and advertising) and pulled in $900 million worldwide. The Amazing-Spider Man cost $230 million to produce (before prints and advertising) and looks to do significantly less. It's also going to drop hard when the Batman is released next weekend, possibly hurting its chance to make it to $800 million. So, tell me again why Raimi and Maguire got the boot?

Originally Posted by Mr. Cinema

Maybe a couple reasons. Maybe they just didn't like Raimi's ideas for a part 4. And to bring everyone back again a 4th time might have been even more costly than doing a re-boot. A 4th Raimi film might have been $300+ million to produce.

Originally Posted by Deadline, October 2008

It’s time to end once and for all the rampant speculation. Sony doesn’t want any info to leak but I’m told that both star Tobey Maguire and director Sam Raimi will be returning to make Zodiac screenwriter Jamie Vanderbilt’s script of Spider-Man 4. Sources tell me that Sony has recently locked in both veterans of Spider-Man 1 through 3. And I do mean recently because just a few weeks ago sources told me that Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal was openly discussing Tobey’s potential replacements with various Hollywood agents because Tobey was hanging tough about a deal. “She was looking around to cover herself because Sony wanted him badly and Tobey wasn’t sure he wanted to do it,” an insider explained to me.

There’s no deal yet for Kirsten Dunst but Mary Jane Watson will be in the movie again. I’m told Sony “would never recast her” despite her rehab problems. But expect another gal part, too.

Gone is the black costume from Spidey 3, even though “dark” is all the rage in superhero movies right now given the enormous success of The Dark Knight. But I’m told the filmmakers won’t be borrowing from the latest Batman installment because “Spider-Man is its own thing,” one insider tells me. ”Sam Raimi made the first serious superhero movie, and others followed. The difference between Spider-Man and Batman is that Batman is duelling with a dark side of himself, and that’s not what Peter Parker’s struggle is. Peter Parker has no dark side himself. In Spider-Man 3 it was the black costume. Peter Parker’s struggle is about sacrifice.”

Sony is taking its time officially hiring the movie’s villain since principal photography doesn’t start on Spider-Man 4 until next fall because of the recently postponed May 2011 release. I am told, however, that “once you find out who the villain is, you’ll know who’s playing it.” That should lead to speculation that Dylan Baker’s character of Dr. Curt Connors will ultimately turn into The Lizard as he did in the comic books. There’s one other character that’s been set up but is a real longshot — Daniel Gillies, who plays John Jameson, the astronaut fiance of Mary Jane in Spider-Man 2. In the comics he becomes the villain Man-Wolf. Raimi has said in the past that he wants the best actors to play the villains in the movie, not necessarily the most famous.

I’m also told that, right now, the studio is trying to figure out if it can feasibly shoot Spider-Man 4 and 5 at the same time because doing that is so cost effective and ”it wasn’t so easy to get everybody back together”.

[...]

And Sony has hired a pair of screenwriters to get going on the Spider-Man 3 spinoff movie Venom. Given that comic book artist/writer and action figure maker, Todd McFarlane, who is one of the creators of the Marvel villain, doesn’t think a Venom movie could do well with a villain as the central character, my sources think Sony should let Topher Grace, even though he was blown up at the end of Spider-Man 3 (yet a portion of the Venom costume survived), stay in the role because the likeable actor could be a a sympathetic evildoer.

Originally Posted by Deadline, January 2010

This is a story I’ve been working on ever since I saw this December 11th email that went out to the Spider-Man 4 special effects crew that day:

"Hey there–

We were just notified that our schedule is pushing. We will NOT be starting as planned. I’m terribly sorry for this news, and I hope this email reaches you in time to find other options. We do not know how long we are pushing, and we will not know until mid-January. By mid-January, we will be told how long the push is, whether it be 2 weeks, 2 months, or something else. The studio has every intention of making the movie, but we no longer have a confirmed start date.

Again, I’m terribly sorry, but Sam Raimi has story issues [that] need to be resolved before we are ready to shoot.

Feel free to call me if you have any questions.

VFX Team"

At that point, it wasn’t well known that the Spider-Man franchise director who also is helming the 4th installment had huge problems with the script that has run through screenwriters Jamie Vanderbilt, David Lindsay-Abaire, and Gary Ross. I’m even told Sam Raimi had been very vocal inside Sony that he “hated” it. Now Raimi and Sony are anxiously waiting for still another version from screenwriter Alvin Sargent, who wrote Spidey 2 & 3 and is married to Spidey franchise producer Laura Ziskind. ”It is unlikely that May 11, 2011, date will be made,” a Sony insider just told me today. “It depends on how quickly the script can get in.” However, agents have told clients in the movie to already expect the film to be pushed back.

My sources say Sony still intends to release that summer, even if the new date is July 2011. But Spider-Man has always owned that coveted early May date. Even as far back as September 2008 when I reported my exclusive that Sony Locks In Sam Raimi & Tobey Maguire in ‘Spider-Man 4′. And now this is a giant opportunity for other studios planning their 2011 schedules to grab this big opening.

Spider-Man 4 was supposed to start filming in February, and star Tobey Maguire echoed that repeatedly in publicity appearances for Brothers. Then it pushed to March. Then late March/early April. And now there’s no date at all, according to my Sony insiders who emailed me: “Some decisions have been made over the holiday about Spider-Man 4. We will be extending the production hiatus on the film. The studio is firmly committed to this franchise but, for us, the script must come first. We intend to notify members of the crew immediately. As you know, Alvin Sargent is currently working on the screenplay. When we have more news, we will keep you posted.”

I do know that Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal and Columbia Pictures president Matt Tolmach, who have shepherded the Spider-Man franchise from Day One, has been wrestling with this script problem for months. “I’m going to do everything I can to make May,” she has repeatedly told Hollywood types involved with the movie. “But I’m not going to start a movie where the script isn’t right yet. Not unless I want my career to be over.”

Fortunately for Pascal, Sony is not yet “pay or play” on some of the talent negotiations which were still only at the tail end. Raimi is insisting that John Malkovich play the villain, so that won’t change. But I do hear that it’s now unlikely Anne Hathaway will be cast. ”I’m not so sure we’re going in that direction,” an insider told me recently. Sony had been hot for her until bigwigs realized she’d cost too much and they probably don’t need “such a big star” for the pic, I’m told.

As for those repeated rumors that Spider-Man 4 will and won’t shoot in 3D, I’ve got to figure that’s uppermost on Sony minds given the post-Avatar climate. Back in April, Sony Pictures’ co-chairmen Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton told Forbes magazine they were considering making the 4th Spider-Man in 3D. Here were the quotes: “Could be,” said Pascal. Lynton added: “People are paying a premium to see movies in 3-D and that’s a very big deal. It’s never been done before that someone says you have to pay more to see Spider-Man than a romantic comedy.” More as I get it…

Originally Posted by Deadline, May 2010

Mike Fleming and Nikki Finke have just confirmed that Sony Pictures decided today to reboot the Spider-Man franchise after franchise director Sam Raimi pulled out of Spider-Man 4 because he felt he couldn’t make its summer release date and keep the film’s creative integrity. This means that Raimi and the cast including star Tobey Maguire are out. There will be no Spider-Man 4. Instead, Mike Fleming is told, the studio will focus on a Summer 2012 reboot from a script by Jamie Vanderbilt with a new director and a new cast. All this took place today at meeting on the lot today. An official Sony Pictures news release about it is expected out now.

Immediately, the news brought celebration and consternation equally to webslinger fanboys who say the reboot plot puts Peter Parker back in high school. There’s also much unconfirmed speculation that this new franchise will be in 3D. And the fans also recall that, in 1991, James Cameron wrote a treatment for Spider-Man and now they’re wondering if he might helm the reboot.

Here’s what went down: My sources tell me that Raimi told Sony Pictures: “I can’t make your date. I can’t go forward creatively.” And, so, once he said “That’s it”, Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal and Columbia Pictures’ Matt Tolmach decided they didn’t want to replace him and instead chose to reboot the franchise. Insiders also tell me that Tobey Maguire heard the news in a phone call with Amy today. I’m told Tobey wasn’t upset. “He’s made 3 great Spider-Man movies. He’s done really well. But he’s the kind of guy who, if Sam wanted to go forward, would have been there for Sam and the studio. Absolutely.”

Fortunately for the studio, Sony was not yet “pay or play” on some of the talent negotiations which were still only at the tail end. Raimi was insisting that John Malkovich play the villain, and the studio was looking to cast Anne Hathaway. “I’m not so sure we’re going in that direction,” an insider told me on January 5th. Sony had been hot for her until bigwigs realized she’d cost too much and they probably don’t need “such a big star” for the pic, I was told.

[...]

As for those repeated rumors that Spider-Man 4 might shoot in 3D, I’ve learned it would have added at least 6 months to the production schedule and “no one on the pic has any idea how to do that,” a source confided. You’ve got to figure 3D now is uppermost on Sony minds given the post-Avatar climate, and Summer 2012 is more than enough time to make the reboot with new technology.

[...]

Spider-Man 4 was supposed to start filming in February, which Tobey Maguire echoed repeatedly in publicity appearances for Brothers. Then it pushed to March. Then late March/early April. And by January 5th there was no date at all, according to my Sony insiders who emailed me: “Some decisions have been made over the holiday about Spider-Man 4. We will be extending the production hiatus on the film. The studio is firmly committed to this franchise but, for us, the script must come first. We intend to notify members of the crew immediately. As you know, Alvin Sargent is currently working on the screenplay. When we have more news, we will keep you posted.”

Originally Posted by Mr. Cinema

BoxOffice.com:



Deadline mentioned in their article that Sony believes Amazing Spider-Man will reach $800 million worldwide. I'd say that'll be good enough for a sequel.

Originally Posted by yoshimi

There are still 6 days left for one of the actors of TDKR to OD to help the box office.

Originally Posted by Matthew Chmiel

TL;DR: Raimi hated the screenplays Sony was churning out, Sony wanted to make the film as soon as possible, and Raimi and Maguire were fired. Interesting to note Sony's comment that nobody on the shoot has any idea how to do 3D. No wonder the 3D (and the script itself) in The Amazing Spider-Man was garbage.