With "Spider-Man 3" nearing its opening and the lead actors and director’s contracts up, the fate of a second trilogy, or even a fourth film, is up in the air. Sam Raimi confirmed that the studio, Columbia Pictures, is interested in making parts 4, 5 and 6, but he would only come back if he could maintain the same passion.

“If I didn’t think I could do it fantastically, than I should step aside and let a younger director come in who loves the character and said he could do it with the greatest passion on the earth,” said Raimi.

With reports that Tobey Maguire said he would absolutely not do a fourth film, Maguire himself expressed no such feelings. He said he would consider it if there was a great story and Raimi and other cast members were back. So what of those other quotes?



“I’m not sure,” said Maguire. “That’s not what I’m saying now. I think early on through one and two I always imagined this as like three and out, lIke I’d do three and that would be enough for those. I’m not saying I will do a fourth one at all. I’m saying I’m not committed either way and we’ll see what happens.’

Weighing in on the Tobey Maguire casting debate, Raimi would have trouble recasting if he retained the helm. “I would have to make that choice based on what the story is and what the characters are. It would be very hard to be involved without Tobey and Kirsten for me at least.’

For Marvel producer Avi Arad, it is inconceivable that Spider-Man would end for any of the above reasons. “You have to look at it as Spider-Man is over 40 years old, in so many media from animation to comic books to graphic novels, maybe Broadway, video games, probably the most successful video games of all time,” said Arad. “So the character is bigger than all of us. I think we’d rather continue of course with Sam and the whole team. We’ve been together for a long time. The fact is that the character will endure. Spider-Man survived, believe me, bankruptcies, bad economies, you name it. And it’s around and alive and bigger than ever.”