LOS ANGELES ~ Columbia Pictures will be spinning two new episodes of the successful, and very lucrative, Spider-Man movies, with actor Tobey Maguire returning in the starring role, an industry magazine reported this week.
To keep costs down, Columbia, which is owned by Japanese entertainment giant Sony, plans to shoot Spider-Man 4 and 5 in quick succession, starting in the autumn of next year, The Hollywood Reporter said.
Laura Ziskin, who will co-produce the sequels with Avi Arad, told the magazine that she hopes to release Spider-Man 4 in May 2011, nine years after the first Spider-Man movie hit the big screen.
Both sequels will be directed by Sam Raimi.
The studio did not say if Kirsten Dunst would return in her role as Mary Jane Watson.
Spider-Man is Sony’s most successful movie franchise, with the first three films in the series grossing US$2.5 billion at box offices worldwide, according to the Reporter.