We’re still 11 months away from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 swinging its way into theaters, but Sony pictures is already banking that we will want to see more of their friendly, neighborhood wallcrawler and have announced dates for The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and Amazing Spider-Man 4. Looking to make a Spider-Man movie a biannual event, Part 3 will be in theaters on June 10, 2016 with Part 4 following on May 4, 2018.
It makes sense that the studio would want to lay claim to their dates this far in advance. Marvel Studios late last week already announced two release dates for Phase 3 of their interconnected superhero franchises in May of 2016 and 2017 and Disney plans to be in full swing with getting a new Star Wars film out once a year by that time.
Announcing a Part 3 and 4 also indicates that Sony presumably has franchise star Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone and director Marc Webb contractually obligated for the films, with a sequel option probably a part of the deal when they signed on for the first film. It would certainly save Sony the headaches that they went through in trying to bring back director Sam Raimi and the cast from their original Spider-Man trilogy for a fourth installment back in 2009-2010.
Last summer’s The Amazing Spider-Man sold a bit over $750 million in tickets, motivating Sony to put a sequel on the fast track for May 2014. Part of the big draw of that film was the layering in of some mystery elements to Peter Parker’s origins as Spider-Man, some of which remained unanswered. Depending on what they have in store story-wise for next summer’s sequel, Webb and company now know that they have two more films over which they can spin out their story.
Here’s the press release from Sony –
CULVER CITY, Calif., June 17, 2013 – With Sony Pictures Entertainment now in production in New York on The Amazing Spider-Man™ 2, slated for release on May 2, 2014, the studio is planting its flag on two future release dates for one of the most successful franchises in studio history, it was announced today by Jeff Blake, Chairman, Worldwide Marketing and Distribution for Sony Pictures. The next two films in the story of Peter Parker will be released on June 10, 2016, and on May 4, 2018, respectively.
Commenting on the announcement, Blake said, “Spider-Man is our most important, most successful, and most beloved franchise, so we’re thrilled that we are in a position to lock in these prime release dates over the next five years.”
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay by Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci & Jeff Pinkner, with a previous draft by James Vanderbilt, and based on the Marvel Comic Book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach are the producers. The executive producers are E. Bennett Walsh, Stan Lee, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci.
The Amazing Spider-Man took in over $750 million at the worldwide box office last year.
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