File this under Rumors We Hope are True.  According to Deadline Hollywood Daily, Both Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire are returning for a fourth and possibly fifth installment of the Spider-Man franchise from Marvel and Sony.

It’s been a difficult road trying to get any news on if the two would bring their talents back for another installment, so the studio is contemplating shooting a fifth movie at the same time as number four just so the studio has a flick ready and waiting in the wings.

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.

I think it’s about time Connors got his moment in the sun, but would that be a villain that could carry two movies back to back, or would we see the eventual pairing of all past villains into a watered down form of the Sinister Six?

via Deadline Hollywood Daily

The Hollywood Reporter has Tom Cruise and Sam Raimi teaming up to adapt DC/Wildstorm comics Sleeper for the big screen.

Written by Ed Brubaker with art by Sean Phillips, “Sleeper,” which ran from 2003-05, centers on an operative whose fusion with an alien artifact makes him impervious to pain and allows him to pass it on to others through skin contact. He is placed undercover in a villainous organization by an intelligence agency and falls for a member of the group, named Miss Misery.

While it is still up in the air on if Cruise will mearly producer or if he’ll take a staring role, it could very well end up being another franchise film for Warner Bros.

via THR

Disney has picked up the rights to the Transplants for an upcoming gig for Sam Raimi.

The parties are keeping a tight lid on the high-concept project, though it is described as a four-quadrant ensemble superhero story with a comedic bent.

It will be interesting to see how Raimi deals with the family friendly crowd at Disney - you can bet Transplants won’t be Darkman.

via THR

According to an interview over at Empire Online, the Spider-Man 4 script is on the way, and if everyone is up to it, the film could be in production soon.

“James Vanderbilt is writing the script and I’m excited to read it. I think it’s going to be done in a few months,” Raimi said. “I’m hoping it’s as great as our discussions were about it and I’m hoping it feels right for me because I love Spider-Man. I’m hoping I’m well rested enough to embrace it and I’m hoping Sony wants me to do it. If all of those things come together, I would love to do it.”

Also word is J.K. Simmons has talked with Tobey Maquire about returning for another movie or two.  If I remember correctly, I thought it was reported there are two Spider-Man movies being written to be filmed concurrently.  Taking the Peter Jackson approach and cranking out three in a row could satisfy the needs of the masses, and still give Maquire and others time to decompress and do other work before deciding on the next plan of attack.

Sadly, there is no word on a remake of Italian Spiderman.

via Empire Online

Yup, throw enough money at someone and they pretty much do anything. In an interview with Superhero Hype! Sam Raimi gave an update on the film.

“Right now, Sony is meeting with different writers to try and bring a fresh new story and approach to the ‘Spider-Man’ franchise,” Raimi told us, “so I’ve been in meetings with Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin, the producers, and Amy Pascal. Different writers have been coming in and spinning different tales of where ‘Spider-Man’ can go from here.”

Let’s just hope it isn’t Clone Saga…

via Superhero Hype

Spider-Man producer Laura Ziskin has gone on record to say we will see a Spider-Man 4, but there are a lot of details to work out first.

“It would be great to have everybody back,” Ziskin says. “But no one is going to sign on the dotted line until we have a script. These are the questions being discussed now. The one thing we have answered definitively is: There will be more ‘Spider-Man’ movies. We just haven’t answered what shape they will come in and (Sony) hasn’t given us a release date.

The biggest question on everyone’s mind is, “Will Tobey return?”  I like Maguire as the web-head, but frankly could care less if Kirsten Dunst gets signed on. Even more important than who will fill the spandex is if Sam Raimi will return as director.  In the interview with Ziskin, she indicates Raimi is part of the initial meeting with Sony execs and we could hear a yes or no shortly after.

If they are going to do more Spider-Man movies, might I suggest they shoot the next four back to back in a non-stop Spider-film-a-thon and then release them once a year until 2012.

via Hollywood Reporter

It only took three days for Spider-Man III to make $148 million in North America, beating the previous record of $135 million set by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.

Does this mean a Spider-Man 4 is just around the corner?

Calling the results “spectacular,” [Amy Pascal, co-chairman Sony Pictures Entertainment] said the studio already was at work on the now inevitable “Spider-Man 4.” “We’re a lot further on than we usually are,” she said. “We usually don’t talk about the next movie until the current one is released, but we’re already talking about what we want to do in the next one.” She added that conversations about bringing back Raimi and the other principals would begin once a script is in place because “that’s what they sign on to do.”

Critics and fans have been pretty torn over the film, with some loving it, and some hating it with a passion. What did you think? Take the Major Spoilers Poll to the right!

via Hollywood Reporter

As a kid I had a collection of old time radio programs that included an episode of The Shadow.  I loved that episode and listened to the tape again and again until I knew what evil lurked in the hearts of men, and until the tape wore out from too much use.  When I started reading comics heavily in the 80s, the 3rd and 4th series of The Shadow was at the top of my list of issues to buy.

Walter Gibson was hired by Street and Smith in the 1930s to write two novel length stories of the dark crime fighter each month.  The stories of the noir crime fighter continued for nearly 20 years.  Since the creation, the Shadow has appeared on radio, magazines, comics, and film.

When the 1994 Alec Baldwin adaptation of The Shadow came out, I was thrilled with the results, even though the movie didn’t break even, dashing my hopes of seeing a sequel, until today…

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Actress Melissa George posted on her website information about her involvement in the upcoming 30 Days of Night movie. George will play Stella Olemaun, the wife of town’s sheriff Eben Olemaun (played by Josh Hartnett). 30 Days of Night tells the tale of vampires who flock to small town in Alaska, where they can enjoy 30 days of uninterrupted night so they may enjoy their feeding non-stop.

The movie is being adapted from the Steve Niles comic, and is being produced by Sam Raimi. Brian Nelson and Stuart Beattie have penned the screenplay, and David Slade will direct. Shooting is scheduled to begin in New Zealand in early August, with the movie hitting the silver screen October 19, 2007

Via Melissa George homepage (link)