There’s an ongoing angle to the Sony/Marvel/Spider-Man story that refuses to die, so we’re throwing it out there for you guys to discuss. Apparently, as revealed by the numerous Sony emails shared by the vicious hackers, the studio has turned to former Spider-Man director Sam Raimi for some form of guidance to help put the franchise back in order.
Raimi’s name was included in a report first published by the Wall Street Journal regarding Marvel’s efforts to get Spidey into the MCU in time for Captain America: Civil War. That deal fell through, but WSJ – at the time – mentioned that Sam Raimi had been contacted as yet another avenue the studio might go down in hopes of restoring the Spider-Man franchise to glory. Oddly enough, shortly after, the story was revised, and Raimi’s name was pulled – but other outlets (like IGN) caught Raimi’s name and ran with the report.
Everyone has been hush-hush on these Spider-Man developments, because they spring from leaked emails and we don’t know yet what type of deals remain on the table. So let’s talk about the possibility of Raimi returning to the franchise he helped launch many years ago. The Wall Street Journal isn’t clear about whether Raimi would serve as a director or a producer. At the very least, I could see him serving as a creative consultant (with a producer’s title) to help tell Sony where they are going right and where they might be biting off more than they can chew.
Part of the problem with that is Sam Raimi TRIED to do that with the studio leading into Spider-Man 3, and they voted him down. As so many of you likely know, Raimi wanted to make a movie that involved Sandman and The Vulture. The studio wanted Venom. The studio won… and we all lost:
That doesn’t mean, however, that Sam Raimi hasn’t learned from his past mistakes. And giving him some distance from the franchise might actually benefit the series. He can see what Marc Webb has done, what Avi Arad has allowed, and he can make helpful suggestions. But I wouldn’t put him in the director’s chair. Sam Raimi is closer, as a filmmaker, to the likes of Oz the Great and Powerful than he is Evil Dead, and the next Spider-Man movie needs to be scaled back, streamlined and micro-budgeted.
Let Raimi produce, but hand the reigns to an indie filmmaker. We’ll all benefit from that. Do you agree?
