On Monday morning, John Malkovich confirmed that he was in negotiations to play the Vulture in Spider-Man 4. By the end of the day, he was out of a job. That's because there is no Spidey 4 anymore -- director Sam Raimi walked away from the franchise when script problems (likely involving Raimi's love of the Vulture, and Sony's wariness of an old, bald villain) threatened the release date, and Sony has decided to re-cast and re-boot the whole damn thing. Raimi's three movies may have their flaws (especially the last one), but they were hugely popular, which makes this a sad day for a lot of people. On the other hand, we couldn't be more excited about a re-boot, even if the franchise is only ten years old. Here's what we'd like to see this time around.

Tags: Kirsten Dunst, re-boot, Sam Raimi, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 4, Tobey Maguire

I feel I should start out this review with a little PSA: If you scare easily, do not allow your vindictive gorehound friends to sweet-talk you into going to this movie. It ain't frickin' Gothika. It's a horror film made for horror fans by somebody who knows what he's doing. It will scare the living shit out of you if you're not properly desensitized to this type of thing. And for the rest of us? It's still effectively scary! I jumped in my seat, I laughed a lot, I thought I might vomit a few times -- to sum it up, I had a fantastic time. This is the measure of a successful horror film, friends.

Tags: Alison Lohman, Drag Me to Hell, Justin Long, Sam Raimi

The rumors and speculation are over now that reliable source Nikki Finke has leaked the news that Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire will both be back for a Spider-Man 4 (and probably 5, too). Sony was rumored to have been considering other actors to play the superhero, but apparently they woke up and realized how rare a franchise this successful and critically favored is. Apparently, Tobey wasn't sure he wanted to do it, but I'm guessing Sony made it worth his while.

Tags: Kirsten Dunst, Sam Raimi, Sony, Spiderman, Spiderman 4, Tobey Maguire

Attention all Spider-Man fans: Start raiding your 401K and get thee to eBay. Sony Pictures, along with charity Stand Up to Cancer is auctioning off a trip to the Spider-Man 4 set on the auction website, even though the film has not yet had any talent attached, nor, I believe, is it yet written (though IMDb has James Vanderbilt credited with the screenplay). Regardless, Sony plans to release something in 2011, and if you're willing to drop enough scratch, you could be there to watch the movie magic happen.

Tags: auction, charity, contest, eBay, Sam Raimi, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 4, Tobey Maguire

The rumor mill is grinding in the Marvel Universe. Latino Review broke the story that the next two installments of the Spider-Man franchise are a go. They apparently are in the works sans original stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst and their director Sam Raimi. Unlike the grumblings over Terminator 4, the news that Maguire won't be returning is being met with little resistance from the Internet. "Indeed, fans may not want him back," says Comics2Film. [Nor do we want Kirsten Dunst back! - Zach] Instead, the buzz is on guessing who the next Peter Parker will be. Latino Review has narrowed it down to two choices: Patrick Fugit from Almost Famous and Michael Angarano from The Forbidden Kingdom.

Tags: Kirsten Dunst, Patrick Fugit, Peter Parker, rampant speculation, rumor, Sam Raimi, Spider-Man

After a lot of speculation about whether there would be a fourth Spider-Man movie -- or if there even should be a fourth, after the dancestravaganza that was the last one -- all of the contracts have finally been signed and Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire are returning as director and star. Hooray, we guess. (Seriously, no dancing this time, guys.) As with any superhero movie, confirmation of the film has kicked off endless discussions of what new villains should fight Spidey. Theories abound, with everyone jumping on every little word out of Raimi's mouth, but nothing is set in stone yet. Still, it's never too early to take stock of our options...

Tags: Carnage, Man-Wolf, Morbius, Morbius the Living Vampire, Sam Raimi, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 4, The Lizard, Venom

Geeks everywhere are freaking out because director Sam Raimi, who has somehow not lost a drop of geek cred after the musical dance extravaganza that was Spider-Man 3, mentioned Burn Notice darling Bruce Campbell and "another Evil Dead" in the same sentence at Comic-Con. Now, as a result, geeks are reporting that Evil Dead 4 is in the works. Well, let's take a step back now.

Tags: Army of Darkness, Bruce Campbell, Burn Notice, Comic-Con, Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, Evil Dead 4, Sam Raimi, San Diego, Spider-Man

It's like someone opened up the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, chanted a little something, and not one but two new possible Evil Dead projects popped out to possess unsuspecting audiences. Zach recently posted about the prospects of a fourth outing with Ash Williams and his demon-obliterating weapon of choice. Thanks to Screen Daily, today I bring you news of Evil Dead: The Musical. According to the article, producer Don Carmody and his partners are in negotiations to make a movie version of the Canadian and off-Broadway stage musical based on the Raimi films.

Tags: 3-D, Army of Darkness, Evil Dead, Evil Dead: the Musical, Hairspray, musical, Sam Raimi