After a poor quality copy leaked online several days ago, and with the San Diego Comic-Con gearing up this week, Columbia Pictures decided to release the first official teaser trailer for their major 2012 summer release The Amazing Spider-Man.

The past week has seen the movie getting a lot of exposure after going into production late last year, and in addition to the new trailer, the new issue of Entertainment Weekly devoted the cover and lead story of its new Comic-Con-themed issue to the Marc Webb-directed reboot.

You can watch the much clearer version of the teaser trailer for The Amazing Spider–Man here below.

The new film was announced early last year after efforts to get a fourth film in the franchise with original director Sam Raimi and stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst into production failed. Raimi wanted the Vulture to be the lead villain and couldn’t meet the studio’s desired summer 2012 release date so Sony handed him and his stars their walking papers and went to work on the reboot.

Webb, the director of the acclaimed 2009 independent film (500) Days of Summer, was hired to helm the film and James Vanderbilt, who had been hired to write the unmade fourth Raimi-directed Spider–Man sequel, was shifted to the new film. Vanderbilt’s script has since gone through rewrites by Alvin Sargent, who had contributed to the screenplays for the first three films, and Steve Kloves, writer of Wonder Boys and six of the Harry Potter films (seven if you don’t count Deathly Hallows as one film).

The studio deemed that the reboot would be considerably less expensive than the first three films, be filmed in 3D, and would focus solely on Peter Parker during his high school years coming to terms with his strange new superpowers. Andrew Garfield, who had garnered accolades for his performance as Eduardo Saverin in David Fincher’s The Social Network, was cast in the role of Parker and his web-swinging alter ego. Emma Stone (Zombieland) was given the plum role of Gwen Stacy, the girl who was the true love of Peter’s life and who came to a tragic end at the hands of the Green Goblin in the Spider-Man comics. Webb surrounded his two young stars with an impressive supporting cast that includes Martin Sheen (The Departed) as Peter’s Uncle Ben, Sally Field (Norma Rae) as his Aunt May, Rhys Ifans (Greenberg) as the film’s villain Dr. Curt Connors (a.k.a the Lizard), and actor/comedian Denis Leary (Rescue Me) as police captain George Stacy, Gwen’s father.

Ever since the reboot was first announced fans of the series have been sharply divided. Before the first trailer and photos were released the only glimpses we caught of this new Spider-Man were grainy spy pics and videos of action scenes being filmed.

Personally I’m not of the opinion that Spider-Man can’t continue as a film franchise without the guiding hand of Sam Raimi. After all life must go on. While I have to admit that I really like the cast Marc Webb has put together little else about this movie has me excited. I didn’t see Webb’s first movie so his name does nothing for me. It’s obvious Sony had to put this movie into production fast lest they allow the Spider-Man property to revert back to Marvel, who have been building their own successful superhero movie empire over the years.

I also like the somber tone of this trailer because after the grotesque heights the series scaled in Spider-Man 3 it was clear the next movie needed to be brought down to Earth. Introducing Peter’s parents, non-entities in the Raimi films, as a potential plot element is intriguing (good casting too-Campbell Scott and Embeth Davidtz), and we finally get the Lizard as a villain despite the fact that Curt Connors was a supporting character in the second and third films…though his own dark nature was never even hinted at. But that last bit of POV Spidey bounding and swinging through the city rubs me the wrong way. It looks to be entirely CGI, giving it the jarring appearance of a video game cut scene.

Plus, we’re getting a retread of Spidey’s origin story, which is completely unnecessary now. The filmmakers should have taken a cue from 2008’s The Incredible Hulk saved that bit for the opening credits so the new movie can get on to the action. The first three Spider-Man movies were some of the biggest blockbusters of the last decade. I think we’re familiar with the basics by now. The movie’s release is still nearly a year away. Let’s hope we’re in for something special.

The Amazing Spider-Man opens in 3D and 2D on July 3, 2012, two weeks before The Dark Knight Rises. I wonder which movie will be remembered come the end of summer.