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Sony may never abandon the Spider-Man franchise, but I can’t help but wonder when director Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire will part with the web-slinging superhero. We already know the director-star combination will be back for Spider-Man 4, which will begin production early next year for a proposed May 6, 2011 release, but will they stick around for the now announced Spider-Man 5 and Spider-Man 6?

We learned back in June 2008 that Zodiac screenwriter James Vanderbilt was the first writer on Spider-Man 4 followed up by work from David Lindsay-Abaire and Gary Ross, but Variety now announces Vanderbilt has been quietly engaged by Sony to begin work scripting 5 and 6.

Michael Fleming at Variety says Raimi didn’t embrace all of Vanderbilt’s ideas, but execs at Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios have. Vanderbilt has been hired to pen the fifth and sixth movies, which have an interconnected storyline. That’s what was originally discussed when Vanderbilt signed on to write Spider-Man 4, but the idea of shooting a fourth and fifth film back to back with the original cast was scrapped.

As for my earlier question regarding Raimi and Maguire, Fleming adds it is unclear whether they will be back for the fifth and sixth installments, but if they aren’t, Vanderbilt’s script would be the blueprint for a franchise reboot. The goal appears to ensure more Spider-Man films are turned over from year-to-year since the time between sequels has continued to grow with each installment as four years will have passed between Spider-Man 3 and Spider-Man 4. Fleming also mentions we should expect the success of this weekend’s District 9 to spawn a sequel as well expect an Angels & Demons follow-up based on Dan Brown’s forthcoming Robert Langdon novel “The Lost Symbol” this September. No surprises there.

Read more at http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/537384-vanderbilt-set-to-pen-spider-man-5-and-6#pArfZ9Rx3G2YxsjK.99