Breaking: ‘Spider-Man 4’ Is Dead; Sam Raimi & Tobey Maguire Leave Project; Series Will Be Completely Rebooted For Summer 2012

Holy shit the story of the year has arrived early. The duo of Nikki Finke and her newly poached Variety recruit, Mike Fleming have come down with the quickness and with a furious hammer.

The “Spider-Man” series as we know it is officially no more. “Spider-Man 4” is now dead in the water and director Sam Raimi and lead actor Tobey Maguire are off the project for good.

Instead, Sony is going to overhaul the project and reboot the entire thing. You knew the recent problematic delays were a pretty big blow to the production — the schedule problems and push-back was rumored to have prevented Kirsten Dunst from participating — but none of us expected this big of a bombshell.

Evidently Raimi, who’s always tried to be a quality-control guy on the film (despite “Spider-Man 3”) was worried about the integrity of the picture (with an unfinished script that no one apparently liked and he allegedly “hated”) and thought he could no longer make the summer production start date and bailed.

According to Finke’s insiders, Raimi told Sony, “I can’t make your date. I can’t go forward creatively,” and that was basically it. Raimi was out and Maguire immediately followed suit.

Sony has evidently decided not to go forward with another director and decided to reboot the entire project — which was an idea on the table long ago when Raimi and the entire cast weren’t so hot on venturing into a fourth film.

Another part of potential problems? A very good source tells that departed producer Laura Ziskin had rejoined the project and Nikki Finke has already confirmed that her husband Alvin Sargent was doing script rewrites (he wrote the original script and had a hand in at least all three scripts). Ziskin was the one who Raimi butted heads with so much on “Spider-Man 2 & 3.” *Our source was correct, obviously lower down the page,we have confirmation of Ziskin’s participation again.

Raimi apparently has two options instead, “World Of Warcraft” (announced last summer) or an adaptation of “The Given Day,” a novel by Dennis Lehane (“Shutter Island,” “Mystic River”). The new reboots will apparently be based off a script by James Vanderbilt, who wrote Fincher’s “Zodiac” and penned one of the original drafts of the “Spider-Man 4” script (but it’s been through several hands since then including David Lindsay-Abaire and then Gary Ross. Vanderbilt was also hired to write “Spider-Man 5 & 6” last year). A whole new cast and director will be brought on board. Wow, that’s kind of crazy and one must imagine a reboot will have to be a few years off, no? (nope, see the answer below in an update).

We wonder if this means they’ll use Vanderbilt’s original “Spider-Man 4” script or if this means they’ll reboot right back to the original origin story and then attempt to get 3-4 Spider-Man films out of the process (question answered below). Man, if Paul Greengrass leaving the 4th Bourne was the biggest story of 2009 then “Spider-Man 4” essentially dying and then starting from scratch is easily 2010’s biggest story and it will be hard to top.

Update: THR has the official comment from Sony and Raimi. Like the ‘Bourne’ debacle, both parties put on a good face for the cameras and playing out a unified front.

“A decade ago we set out on this journey with Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire, and together we made three Spider-Man films that set a new bar for the genre. When we began, no one ever imagined that we would make history at the box-office, and now we have a rare opportunity to make history once again with this franchise.

“Peter Parker as an ordinary young adult grappling with extraordinary powers has always been the foundation that has made this character so timeless and compelling for generations of fans. We’re very excited about the creative possibilities that come from returning to Peter’s roots and we look forward to working once again with Marvel Studios, Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin on this new beginning,” Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal said in a statement.

Said Raimi: “Working on the Spider-Man movies was the experience of a lifetime for me. 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.”

That’s a wrap folks. See you in a few years? Nope. The film has been pushed only by a year.

The press release by Sony (over at DHD) stresses that “Spider-Man 4” will be moving forward as is using Vanderbilt’s original script. “Peter Parker is going back to high school when the next Spider-Man hits theaters in the summer of 2012. Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios announced today they are moving forward with a film based on a script by James Vanderbilt that focuses on a teenager grappling with both contemporary human problems and amazing super-human crises.”

That sounds like a modified version of his “Spider-Man 4” screenplay, but it definitely sounds like a proper reboot, as in back to the days of “Spider-Man” the original film and Amy Pascal’s comments certainly echo that sentiment.

Update 2: Nikki Finke keeps updating and says this “Spider-Man” reboot could be shot in 3D as in the post “Avatar” world, that’s on all the studios minds (apparently trying 3D for this now dead version with Raimi and co. would have delayed it even further). Fortunately for Sony, none of the cast or principal players were “pay or play” deals which would mean they would have seen major pay days regardless of whether the film actually happened or not (but “pay or play” deals are increasingly rare in this belt-tightening age).