It may have been a no-brainer that Sony would be making a sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man, but today we received official confirmation that the gears are in motion to get it done in short order. The studio has drafted Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci to pen the script which is certain to delight the inner-geeks in us all as the duo previously worked on Star Trek and Transformers. They will be replacing Alvin Sargent, James Vanderbilt, and Steve Kloves who are credited with the story for the franchise re-launch which is scheduled to hit theaters in July.
While certainly welcomed considering the credentials, such a behind-the-scenes shift is a bit confusing as that sort of news usually follows ‘scathing reviews.’ Perhaps Sony just used Sargent to insure the reboot goes smoothly as he previously worked on the two sequel efforts during the last Spider-Man cycle, but that is purely speculation.
As for the idea of a sequel getting off the ground early, this is common practice nowadays for certified blockbuster franchises as it provides a lot of extra time for production should there be scheduling conflicts, script problems, etc. Studios really like the two-year window between outings, and with big budget films that can be difficult to deliver. Just ask the folks at Paramount who have been patiently awaiting J.J. Abram’s sequel to the Star Trek reboot.