'Spider-Man 4' Canceled ... For Now

Columbia - one of Hollywood's six major studios - has announced that the planed and highly anticipated fourth installment of the successful Spider-Man franchise has been shelved for now. A film was supposed to be released in 2011.

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Tobey Maguire, star of the previous three films, has announced that he has withdrawn himself from the project along with the director of the previous three films Sam Raimi. Tobey left following the lead of Raimi after the director and Columbia could not agree on a script.

The Spider-Man trilogy grossed a combined $700million-plus in the U.S. market alone and is the most successful franchise of the first decade in the 21st century.

For Spider-Man fans, Columbia has a back up plan:

[A] James Vanderbilt-penned script about a teenage Peter Parker ready to shoot. The studio is yet to rope in a director and a starcast for the new film.

The new untitled Spider Man film will center on the webslinging teen as he struggles with both human problems and amazing super-human crises.

This teenage Spider-Man is expected to be released in 2012 and may become a new lucrative franchise for the studio. But a teenage Spider-Man may be boring before he gets his powers. After all, Parker is a nerd.

There is no bitter with director Raimi: "While we were looking forward to doing a fourth one together, the studio and Marvel have a unique opportunity to take the franchise in a new direction, and I know they will do a terrific job."

For those who still want to see the original franchise, all is not ruled out. The studio may come to an agreement after sometime. Many Hollywood projects fall through initially over script, ect..., disputes. In the end, the studio, director ect... come to an agreement after they have had time to reassess their interests and get over their egos.

Either way, Spider-Man "WILL BE BACK". That's his catch line, right?