The Amazing Spider-Man happened, and as predicted, we overheard (and sometimes were an active part of) many arguments about its overall quality at this year's San Diego Comic Con. Most of us at CraveOnline's Film Channel weren't big fans of Marc Webb's take on everyone's favorite webslinger (although Witney Seibold liked it a lot), so when we heard that Webb might not be returning for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, our reactions were a little mixed.
In a recent interview with Hollywood Reporter, President of Columbia Pictures Doug Belgrad had this to say on the topic of Marc Webb coming back for more Spider-Man: "We'd really like him back, but there are obstacles. He has an obligation to Fox."
Belgrad is referring to a deal Marc Webb has with Fox to do a second film with the studio following their release of (500) Days of Summer, his acclaimed romance from 2009 that starred Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and which seemed to be instrumental in landing Webb the Amazing Spider-Man gig thanks to its lovable but downtrodden hero, powerful young love story and smart sense of humor.
There is no word just yet on what this follow-up project for Fox might be, and for all we know Fox might not want to exercise this option just yet, but it's certainly in their power to potentially damage the Amazing Spider-Man franchise if they decide to prevent Marc Webb from returning to the director's chair.
But does he even want to return right away? In another recent interview with Huffington Post, Webb was asked about coming back for a sequel and responded, "People ask about the sequel and I'm like, 'Well, you know, I don't know if I want to do that, but I love the process.' I love Andrew and Emma. But it's like asking someone who has just given birth, 'Do you want to get pregnant again?'"
As you can imagine, Sony wants to get Amazing Spider-Man 2 into production as soon as possible (they've already had screenwriters working on the sequel for months), so we expect to hear an official update on Marc Webb's involvement, or non-involvement, sooner than later.
CraveOnline will be back with more Amazing Spider-Man 2 news after we grab Gwen Stacy's ass. (Romantic!)
