While the box office returns on last month's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 were certainly not meager, considering that the film made about $60 million less than the previous film, it is not hard to imagine that Sony may be reorganizing their priorities with the property.
Which may be what they are doing, if rumors are to be believed that the movie is getting pushed back from its original June 10, 2016 release date to an undisclosed date in 2017.
Ain't It Cool News, during their reports of the recent DC/Warner Bros. updates nonetheless, it was revealed at the bottom of the article the following:
"I have been told that THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 3 has been moved to an undetermined date in 2017."
At the moment, this news has yet to be confirmed by the studio or any other publication. But, considering that the studio has yet to shut the rumors down, there is a good chance that this report is true. Marc Webb, who directed the last two films, is set to return to directing this movie, and the sequel also already has a script in the can from Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, the writing duo who penned this summer's sequel.
With these pieces set in place, it was looking like the movie was getting ready to gear up later this year or perhaps early next year for production. But nothing has been revealed about the movie since 2 came out last month, which suggests the studio may, indeed, be shaken about continuing to push Spider-Man movies out to the public at large.
In addition to the sequel, there are also two spin-offs scheduled to be made by the studio, The Sinister Six and Venom, the later of which is supposed to be directed by Kurtzman. It's not hard to believe that Sony may want to push one of those projects into the 2016 spot instead, and have a little more time devoted towards making a direct sequel to Spider-Man again.
With writer/director Drew Goddard moving away from his duties as showrunner on Marvel's upcoming Netflix series Daredevil to focus on making this movie, it would not be impossible to imagine that that will the movie that takes its place. Especially considering the events that took place at the end of The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
In addition to the third movie, The Amazing Spider-Man 4 was also already booked for a release on May 4, 2018. If the previous rumors are true, there is no word on if that movie will be getting pushed from that date as well. Perhaps that should be when fans should expect to see Venom hits theaters.
Image courtesy of Roger Wong/INFphoto.com