After The Amazing Spider-Man debuted, there was a little debate as to whether or not director Marc Webb would return to helm its sequel. Webb was contractually obligated to give Fox another feature film within the next few years, because they were the ones who had helped finance and distribute (500) Days of Summer.

However, it looks like he may have straightened a few things out with the studio as a Columbia Pictures press release reveals that Webb is set to direct The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The press release also confirmed that Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone would reprise their respective roles.

Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, along with Jeff Pinkner, will be rewriting the draft written by James Vanderbilt. The first film ended with plenty of unanswered questions and had a few gaping plot holes, so let’s hope that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 answers those questions and resolves some of the issues that the first film may have had. Columbia Pictures president, Doug Belgrad, had this to say about Webb’s return:

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is scheduled to begin production early next year. The film will be released on May 2, 2014.

[Source: Columbia Pictures]