In the lead up to the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Sony seemed to have a clear plan in place for the future of their Marvel franchise, setting release dates of 2016 and 2018 for The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 4, as well as announcing spin-offs for Venom and The Sinister Six. However, speaking to IGN, screenwriter Roberto Orci has indicated that Sony’s plans are far from set in stone:
“I don’t know what their plans are for that franchise,” said Orci, when asked how his recent split from regular writing partner Alex Kurtzman will impact his continued involvement with the series. “I don’t ever want to say never, but we have to figure out what their scheduling is in terms of when they want each movie. I’ve read probably as much as anyone else. There’s a love for the Sinister Six, the idea of Venom — there’s an idea of Spider-Man’s going to be one of these characters that’s part of our business. He’s such a popular character. Spider-Man’s not going to go away any time soon. When it all happens and how and all that has yet to be determined.”
Orci – who is set to make his directorial debut with Star Trek 3 – then went on to reveal that he’s “not officially involved” in The Amazing Spider-Man 3, despite the fact that he, Kurzman and Jeff Pinkner were initially announced as penning the script for the threequel. So, at this point, it seems that the wall-crawler’s next outing is up in the air somewhat, and it remains to be seen whether Sony can get its act together in time for its planned 2016 release date.
