James Vanderbilt, writer of the Zodiac and Basic screenplays, will replace the original Spider-Man scribe David Koepp in the drafting of the fourth installment of the superhero series. Producers want more character-driven stories, rather than a focus on special effects, according to Reuters/the Hollywood Reporter.

No deals have been made to bring back series director Sam Raimi or stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.

Plot points are being closely guarded by the studio, though the intent is to scale back the story to include only two villains instead of repeating the "Spider-Man 3" model. The third installment, which grossed $336.5 million domestically this year, saw Spidey battle a busy triumvirate of evildoers in the forms of Venom, Sandman and Goblin. It was widely reckoned as overly cumbersome with one too many plot lines.

 read more »

Director Sam Raimi tried everything in this second superhero sequel—and nothing worked.  read more »