海角大神

This past week, reports began to circulate that the听Amazing Spider-Man听蝉辫颈苍辞蹿蹿听听鈥� a film about听a team of Spider-Man super villains -听might be in serious danger of being cancelled. Not so, it turns out, as Sony/Columbia Pictures has announced an official Fall 2016 release date for writer/director Drew Goddard鈥檚听Sinister Six听movie. Meanwhile,听Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2听director Marc Webb鈥檚听has been pushed to 2018 (presumably, the May 2018 spot that Sony is currently holding onto).听

Goddard stepped down as the showrunner for Marvel Studios鈥� upcoming听series a couple months back, in order to concentrate his efforts on getting听Sinister Six听ready. However,听听made by certain other prominent members of the听Amazing Spider-Man听franchise听鈥渂rain trust鈥�听鈥� Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, to be exact 鈥� indicated that Sony鈥檚 original plans for the series鈥� future may鈥檝e changed (worst case scenario, that the blueprints for building听听may鈥檝e been abandoned), in reaction to听Amazing Spider-Man 2鈥榮 overall shaky critical reception and box office drop-off from its predecessor.

Sony, however, has now revealed its hand of cards, not so coincidentally as the听听gets up and running.听Sinister Six听now has a November 11th, 2016 release date 鈥� one week before WB releases its Harry Potter spinoff,听. The month of November has long served franchises such as Harry Potter and James Bond well (among others), while听Thor: The Dark World听proved last year that superhero movies can also thrive at the box office during that frame.

However, there are some pressing questions to ask about听Sinister Six. For one, will the movie feature Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spidey, seeing how the actor previously said he鈥檚 only听- and if the final movie that鈥檚 part of Garfield鈥檚 current deal is meant to be听Amazing Spider-Man 3听(as would make the most sense), does that mean听Sinister Sixwon鈥檛 actually feature听his Spider-Man?

Likewise, what big name actors are gong to be recruited to fill听听that already includes Rhino (Paul Giamatti) and the Harry Osborn Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan) 鈥� not to mention, potentially Felicity Jones as Felicia Hardy/Black Cat, while Jamie Foxx as Electro remains a (slight) possibility? And how will the听turnout for a听Wild Bunch-style movie with Spider-Man villains compare to other Spider-Man films, especially听given that the moviegoing public has shown听signs of Spidey fatigue of late? (Not to mention, there鈥檚 still that听听movie, waiting in the wings鈥�)听The听is questionable, to say the least.

Having said all that, the good news is that听frees up the latter from having to devote too much of its running time to world-building (a laThe听Amazing Spider-Man 2). Plus, Marvel Studios听听open for Sony鈥檚 nextAmazing Spider-Man听installment 鈥� which means that Webb鈥檚 film will have more time to develop, fewer larger franchise duties to fulfill,听and听less direct competition to face at the box office.

Sandy Schaefer blogs at .