♣ Spider-Man 2012 Reboot

Fact that most people have already known: Tobey Maguire is no longer Peter Parker.

but…

Fact that common people may haven’t been aware of: There is no Spider-Man 4.

I was watching The Avengers few weeks ago, then they presented the trailer of the new Spider-Man film, “The Amazing Spider-Man”, that is already scheduled to come on theater on the early of July this year. Everybody around me was so excited with the new film. They were already eager to know the continuation from last Spider-Man movie (it really is been so long, isn’t it?), how Peter and Mary Jane’s relationship is now after they reconciled in the end of Spider-Man 3. Some gasped, “Oh that’s the new Peter Parker!”, even (on seeing Emma Stone) “That’s the new Mary Jane?” “How come Mary Jane is not a redhead?” …well, people, it’s because she’s not Mary Jane.

Here is the deal: There is no Spider-Man 4. It’s not even a sequel for the previous film. 

So if next July you come to theater expecting to see the same Peter Parker story as the previous three films, where it picks up where “Spider-Man 3” ended; Harry’s dead, Peter already relieved with the lost of his uncle Ben, Spider-Man had beaten Venom, etc etc etc, I’m sorry pal, you will NOT see it (you will not even see the cool organic web-shooter, it’s all artificial and mechanical now!). Peter Parker is going back to high-school, ladies and gentlemen… 

A little history

In January 2010, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios confirmed that they decided to reboot the Spider-Man franchise after the previous franchise director, Sam Raimi, pulled out of Spider-Man 4. Spider-Man 4 was supposed to be in theaters in May 2011, but had been derailed by script revisions. Raimi refused to rush production in favor of Sony's deadline; He felt he couldn’t make its summer 2011 release date as well as to keep the film’s creative integrity. 

“Working on the ‘Spider-Man’ movies was the experience of a lifetime for me,” Raimi said in a statement.  “While we were looking forward to doing a fourth one together, the studio and Marvel have a unique opportunity to take the franchise in a new direction and I know they will do a terrific job.”

This means that Raimi and the cast including star Tobey Maguire are out. There will be no Spider-Man 4. Instead, the studio will focus on a summer 2012 reboot from a script by Jamie Vanderbilt, who wrote “Zodiac” (2007) and “The Rundown” (2003), with a new director, Marc Webb, who directed “(500) Days of Summer”, along with a new cast with Emma Stone playing Gwen Stacy and Andrew Garfield playing Peter Parker, and will feature a return to Peter Parker's high school days.

A little definition

So what does exactly “rebooting” mean? In serial fiction, to reboot means to discard much or even all previous continuity in the series, to restart an entertainment universe that has already been previously established, and begin with a new story line and/or timeline that disregards the original writer’s previously established history, thus making all established fictive history to be irrelevant to the new storyline.

A reboot is not a prequel where it differs in that a prequel is generally consistent with the previously established continuity (known as “canon”) of the series. With a reboot, the older continuity is discarded and replaced with a brand-new canon. A reboot is also not a remake because remake is often produced by a different author from that of the original series, and can be seen as re-telling of the same story and essentially, again, still maintaining the same canon. 

Before Spider-Man, some other famous film franchises have been rebooted during the first decade of the new millennium. Some of the biggest reboots are the long-successful “James Bond” franchise with its newest releases “Casino Royale” in 2006 and “Quantum of Solace” in 2008, and then “Batman”, with “Batman Begins” in 2005 and “The Dark Knight” in 2008, which was not only the highest grossing superhero movie ever made, but also one of the highest grossing movies of all time. There have also been smaller-success films like “The Incredible Hulk” (2008) which rebooted with Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, that ignored its predecessor “The Hulk” released in 2003 starring Eric Bana. 

So, yes, there have been a lot of reboots lately. And so far, reboots have been successful.

A little opinion

I really don’t care when they rebooted “James Bond” or… “Batman”, but “Spider-Man”? Oh no, now this is becoming a little personal, since “Spider-Man” is my life-time favorite superhero movie! I practically grew up watching Sam Raimi’s franchise! Here are my issues with “Spider-Man” reboot.

The first “Spider-Man” movie came out only in 2002 (the last came in 2007) then they already reboot in 2012? Too soon, anyone? Seriously, are they really expecting us to forget the impression of the previous movies so quickly and easily? The first “Batman” came out in 1989, while the first “James Bond” came out in 1962. See my point? Well you probably will say they’ve done that with “The Hulk”. But “The Hulk” is a stand-alone movie! It’s not a well-established movie series with a huge success (and I mean HUGE, and let’s forget “Spider-Man 3” which is considered a disappointment) like “Spider-Man” is. 

Secondly, when we see a movie, sometimes it’s not because the movie is so great, but simply because that movie can connect you to the past. In this case that movie is a link. A link to the past that you have experienced before. I always like Eric Bana as Bruce Banner better, eventhough Edward Norton has done an excellent job. The same way I always like Pierce Brosnan as James Bond better (don’t judge me, I was born in early 90’s so Brosnan is practically the first Bond I can relate to). Why? Because, well, they came first, and are something I grew up with. 

I know a lot of fans for Spider-Man comics never really like Maguire’s version of Peter Parker (thus, Andrew Garfield is somewhat a better choice), and that this new Spider-Man movie is also somewhat closer to the comics, so I realize there are others who will totally disagree with me on this. But, I don’t read the comics. So what I always know is that Peter Parker is Tobey Maguire, whose first crush is always Mary Jane –the girl next door, turning into Spider-Man because he was accidentally bit by a runaway radioactive spider during an excursion to a laboratory. That canon has already been a part of me.

Surely I will still be awaiting the all-new Spider-Man movie this year, but like I read this expression somewhere; Watching it will be like attending a funeral of a good old friend who died too soon. 

Also, if in another life you want to do a Spider-Man reboot, please at least wait until I get old.

From various sources, including here and here.