Both
MTV and
IGN talked to director Sam Raimi on Sunday about
Spider-Man 4, which just received a release date of May 6, 2011 last week.
Raimi says that he and the production team are "in the earliest stages of working with the writer, trying to work out a story." He added that they are just working on the fourth installment and not also a fifth film. Previous reports had claimed that Sony Pictures would be making the fourth and fifth movies at the same time, but that doesn't appear to be the case.
The helmer said that they are closing in on Spider-Man's adversary or adversaries for the fourth pic. "All the characters or villains or villains, whatever we decide to do will be from Stan Lee's creations or those that came after him," he said.
And will Kirsten Dunst return as Mary Jane Watson? If it was up to Raimi, definitely: "I’m hoping she'll be in it and I'm planning on having a story with her in it... It wouldn't be the Spider-Man series without her."
If this ends up being true and Sony does get another Spider-Man made in three years time, let me be the first to say that 2011 is going to be one hell of an incredible year. The Hobbit is going to make its triumphant debut, most likely in the fall, just like Lord of the Rings. Additionally from Marvel, Captain America will make his debut and we'll most likely see the biggest geek dream of all - The Avengers. If Transformers keeps up on its two year schedule, we'll also be watching Transformers 3 in the summer. And if Christopher Nolan keeps up with his three year schedule, we'll probably be watching Batman Begins 3 in 2011 as well. Add Spider-Man 4 to that list and I think most geeks will have fainted.