Despite being released during the pandemic in 2021, “Spider-Man: Now Way Home” became the most successful ‘Spider-Man’ installment of all time at the box office, earning a whopping $1.9 billion for Sony Pictures. So, putting “Spider-Man 4” into production is clearly one of the studio’s biggest priorities, along with getting Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jacob Batalon back into their key roles. Marvel Studios and Sony are reportedly in the middle of a director search to replace Jon Watts, and Holland is now speaking up about the status of “Spider-Man 4,” optimistic about its potential but suggesting the script and story might not be quite there yet. Deadline spoke with Holland at the Sands International Film Festival in St. Andrews, Scotland, about “Spider-Man 4” and his hopes to make a fourth installment.
However, Holland gave the impression they haven’t exactly “cracked” the story, as their main aim is to “protect” the franchise legacy while also not “overdoing the same things,” the latter seemingly referring to The Multiverse angle of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and The Parkers (Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield reprising their respective variants of Peter Parker).
“The simple answer is that I’ll always want to do Spider-Man films,” Tom told Deadline at the Sands International Film Festival. “I owe my life and career to Spider-Man. So, the simple answer is yes. I’ll always want to do more.”
Holland was also quick to point out that repeating what they’ve already done could be a mistake and the legacy of the three previous films puts the pressure on this fourth one to deliver.
“We have the best in the business working toward whatever the story might be. But until we’ve cracked it, we have a legacy to protect,” the “Spider-Man” actor said. “The third movie was so special in so many ways that we need to make sure we do the right thing.”
Holland added that he’s seemingly now a full-blown producer on “Spider-Man” four, has a creative say, and has been part of the iterative process of finding that fourth story.
“This is the first time in this process that I’ve been part of the creative so early. It’s just a process where I’m watching and learning. It’s just a really fun stage for me. Like I said, everyone wants it to happen. But we want to make sure we’re not overdoing the same things.”
One promising aspect of the project is the early involvement of
Holland, having some early creative say, is new and a promising aspect of the project; clearly, he knows the character as well as anyone at Sony or Marvel, having played the character in six different Marvel movies so far.
Some of rumors about the development process so far allege that Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios have had different ideas of how to tackle “Spider-Man 4.” Where speculation ends and rumor begins always becomes nebulous, but there is talk and or theories that “Spider-Man 4” could be grounded and street-level, potentially featuring more cameos from Charlie Cox’s canonized Daredevil (who appeared as Matt Murdock in “Spider-Man: Now Way Home”). There are also rumors that Sony wants to continue with the multiverse angle that has been further popularized in their “Spider-Verse” film (“Spider-Man: Homecoming” actor Donald Glover appeared as the live-action variant of The Prowler in “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” for example).
Which direction the movie takes, and if it’s that binary, remains to be seen, but the reality is, after making nearly $2 billion at the box office in 2021, both studios would probably like to see this franchise up and running as soon as humanly possible.