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Tobey Maguire out as Spider-Man 4 moving ahead

Sony Pictures have announced they are moving ahead on the next installment of the Spider-Man franchise, "Spider-Man 4" without star, Tobey Maguire and director Sam Raimi.

The director and lead actor have been attached to the series since the beginning; however the studio will instead be 'rebooting' the story based on a script previously written by James Vanderbilt (who wrote ) which puts the superhero in high school.

The axing came after director Sam Raimi told the studio he couldn't make the scheduled deadline of May 2011 for the release date nor was he happy with the script, and refused to film something he wasn’t comfortable with as was the case with "Spider-Man 3."

Sony pushed the film back hoping they could come to an agreement but without a resolution in site decided to start afresh with a new storyline and cast.

Maguire had only last week said in an interview that there was "great stuff in terms of story and script" for the fourth chapter and the plan was to still release the film in 2011. He also said he had specific ideas about the evolution of the character on the big screen.

However some reports are suggesting that Sony knew Maguire would walk if they didn’t have Raimi in place so decided to pull the plug.

Consequently due to the filmmakers starting from scratch for "Spider-Man 4" means the release date has been pushed out to mid 2012.

Sam Raimi issued the following statement on the news "Working on the Spider-Man movies was the experience of a lifetime for me. 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."

The three Spider-Man films have been a box office hit earning over $US1.1 billion combined. After earning critical praise for the first two films, Spider-Man 3 wasn’t able to earn the same reaction and Raimi said he was undecided about returning to the franchise again.

Michael Lynton, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures said, 'Spider-Man' will always be an important franchise for Sony Pictures and a fresh start like this is a responsibility that we all take very seriously,"

"We have always believed that story comes first and story guides the direction of these films and as we move onto the next chapter, we will stay true to that principle and will do so with the highest respect for the source material and the fans and moviegoers who deserve nothing but the best when it comes to bringing these stories and characters to life on the big screen."