Some might not agree with me, but THANK GOD! Sam Raimi pushed a little too far, thinking he was the moneymaker behind the success of the Spider-Man franchise. Wrong. Spider-Man is part of the “Big Three” comic characters known the world over (Spidey, Superman & Batman…). People who don’t have running water in third world countries known who Spider-Man is, but not who Raimi is. And after that last abortion of a movie  called Spider-Man 3, the success of the Marvel Studios movies and the subsequent buyout of Marvel by Disney – movie studios with comic book characters rights are looking to make good movies that not only are true to the comics, but are fun for anyone to watch. Directors like Sam Raimi and Ang Lee have tried too hard to put their signature on the characters they’ve been entrusted with. Before the holidays, it was revealed that Raimi and Sony were at odds over the villains to be used in the movie and ultimately the script. Announcing that the pre-production team would be taking a break over the holidays to regroup left us with more questions than answers. Then came the press release I’ve been waiting three movies for (or at least 6 months…): Sony has parted ways with Raimi and the cast of the first three Spider-Man movies. Good. Tobey Maguire was too whiney, too art house movie wannabe and too dorky (yes, even Spidey can be too dorky…). Kirsten Dunst was just simply not pretty enough to be Mary Jane and while her acting might be good enough for period movies like Marie Antoinette (where it’s ok for her to act like she’s made out of wood…) it’s not acceptable for a movie like Spider-Man. There are only three actors that I will miss from the Raimi directed movies: J.K.Simmons as J.Jonah Jameson, Rosemary Harris as Aunt May and Bruce Campbell in his many cameos. Simmons should be on Sony’s list of rehires for the new cast and crew. But, for those of you worried that another Spider-Man movie may never happen, never fear – Sony already had a script in hand for Spider-Man 5 & 6 with plans to shoot both at the same time. Sony has confirmed that these planned movies will now be 4 and 5, marking a complete reboot for the franchise. Focusing more on the Ultimate Spider-Man comics and the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon where Peter Parker is still in high school, dealing with new powers, girlfriends and super-villains. I have a feeling that this will be a definite move in the right direction for the franchise as it will not only bring in current Marvel Zombies, but also younger and possibly tweenage viewers. Sony should definitely be looking for a Peter Parker that can “grow” into the role, much like Daniel Radcliff in Harry Potter. Raimi should stick to the genre he knows and continue to do horror movies like Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones (which looks great by the way…).