The Amazing Spider-Man - First Look

NO MORE TOBEY MAGUIRE!!!!

I thought I'd continue on from my Man of Steel preview yesterday with another superhero reboot that we know a little more about: The Amazing Spider-Man. This one caught a few by surprise when it was announced in January 2010, as everyone was expecting more news from the supposedly upcoming Spider-Man 4. However, it was announced that Sam Raimi had pulled out, followed shortly thereafter by Tobey Maguire. Word has it that Raimi felt he couldn't make the May 2011 release date (which was eventually given to Thor), so Sony decided to start the series all over again with a new team. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that Zodiac scribe James Vanderbilt (along with rewrite work from regular Spidey writer Alvin Sargent and Harry Potter regular Steve Kloves) would pen the film, and that relative newcomer Marc Webb (Webb, geddit?!) would direct. Webb's only previous feature film effort, (500) Days of Summer, was a fun and unconventional indie romantic comedy-drama, so I was intrigued to see how he would approach the webslinger as opposed to comedy-horror aficionado Raimi. Later, in July 2010, Andrew Garfield was announced to be the new Peter Parker/Spider-Man, with Emma Stone joining as new/old love interest Gwen Stacy and Rhys Ifans joining as villain Dr. Curt Connors/Lizard (one of my only regrets of the original series was that Dylan Baker never got to see his Lizard realized onscreen, despite patiently playing Connors). And a few weeks ago around Comic-Con, the first teaser trailer appeared. We got our first looks at Martin Sheen's Uncle Ben and Sally Field's Aunt May, as well as Stone and Ifans (non-Lizard), before we got a brief, FPS-style glimpse of Spider-Man in action. The trailer definitely piqued my interest, as it promises a grittier and more contemporary take on the lore than Raimi's goofy, comic-booky world was, and it increased my interest in the picture, set to arrive next summer, a few scant weeks before The Dark Knight Rises. It went from being a little-to-no interest film to a near-must-see, and with Sony greenlighting a sequel with a Summer 2014 release date today, nearly a year before its release, they must be confident in its quality. Only time will tell.

Lookin' good n' gritty.

The Amazing Spider-Man hits July 3, 2012.