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Sam Raimi‘s Oz The Great and Powerful is hitting theaters this weekend, but long before the film’s production, the director was attached to direct Spider-Man 4 – which eventually got the reboot treatment directed by Marc Webb – and World of Warcraft – which eventually went to Duncan Jones.
During the press rounds for Oz The Great and Powerful, Raimi addressed those projects that got passed on or rebooted.
On the subject of Spider-Man 4, Raimi said that he just couldn’t hand in a proper script on time and that he wanted to end his Spider-Man franchise on a high note, especially after the way Spider-Man 3 ended. By the way that the relationship between him and Sony wasn’t as heated as some make it out to be, according to Raimi.
It really was the most amicable and undramatic of breakups: It was simply that we had a deadline and I couldn’t get the story to work on a level that I wanted it to work. I was very unhappy with Spider-Man 3, and I wanted to make Spider-Man 4 to end on a very high note, the best Spider-Man of them all. But I couldn’t get the script together in time, due to my own failings, and I said to Sony, “I don’t want to make a movie that is less than great, so I think we shouldn’t make this picture. Go ahead with your reboot, which you’ve been planning anyway.” And [Sony co-chairman] Amy Pascal said, “Thank you. Thank you for not wasting the studio’s money, and I appreciate your candor.” So we left on the best of terms, both of us trying to do the best thing for fans, the good name of Spider-Man, and Sony Studios.
I’ll say this, whether or not Spider-Man 4 would have been made, it would have most likely made a lot of money anyway, but whether or not the story would have been good is something else, so it’s great to see that Raimi didn’t want to soil both Spider-Man or Sony Pictures just to make a quick buck.
World of Warcraft is a bit different though. While he did pitch them a script, the parties at play were either unaccepting or had reservations:
Robert Rodat was working on the script, and it was taking a long time. I think they were getting a little antsy at Legendary, the production company. Actually, what happened was even more complicated, so let me go back a little bit. First, they asked me if I wanted to make it, and I said, “Yes, I love World of Warcraft, and I think it would make a great picture.” So I read a screenplay they had that was written by the guys at [Warcraft developer] Blizzard, and it didn’t quite work for me. I told them I wanted to make my own original story with Robert, so we pitched it to Legendary and they accepted it, and then we pitched it to Blizzard, and they had reservations, but they accepted it. Then Robert wrote the screenplay, and only once he was done did we realize that Blizzard had veto power, and we didn’t know that. And they had never quite approved the original story we pitched them. Those reservations were their way of saying, “We don’t approve this story, and we want to go a different way,” so after we had spent nine months working on this thing, we basically had to start over. And Robert did start over, but it was taking too long for the people at Blizzard, and their patience ran out. Honestly, I think it was mismanagement on their behalf, not to explain to us that the first story was vetoed long ago. Why did they let us keep working on it? Were they afraid to tell me?
So what do you think of Raimi’s explanations?
[Source: Vulture]
I think a rushed Spidey 4 would have been better then the Justin Beiber Spider Reboot.
Comment by Midas68 — March 7, 2013 @ 3:00 am
seriously? The reboot was hands down 1000 times better than the entire Raimi series. I have always loved his work, but he really screwed up Spiderman. The reboot contained so many true to comic elements, much better storyline not to mention a Peter Parker who actually looks like Peter Parker, its great to see Spiderman back on track.
Comment by acrossalloceans — March 7, 2013 @ 4:56 am
Not sure what definition you use by Seriously??
You say it like I must be the only one in History who could think so.
Funny how the majority of people agree with me(just like the IMPD ratings) And these ratings will continue to go down as more casual watchers see it and when all the fanboys have already seen it rated it a 10. or like you a 1000.
I’m no Rami Ballhugger. I think he has done some good work and some that wasn’t(like Spidey 3)
If this reboot was a 1000 times better. it would be more of a classic then Casablanca. Which it’s your judgment that needs to be looked at Seriously!
And he looks like a Putz but its the interactions and stupid and cheap tricks that makes it a bad movie.
You must listen to Justin Beiber .
Comment by Midas68 — March 7, 2013 @ 6:26 pm
I use it as in its shocking that someone could want a rushed piece of crap film rather than one that is done well that does justice to the character. So yeah thats a little hard to understand. Overall, I could care less about IMDB ratings. The validity of their rating status is a joke. 1000 times better” was obviously an overly dramatic statement proving a point but unfortunately was taken literally. Crazy me for thinking the general public understood this. As far as my judgement, hey we’re all entitled to our own opinion, but as an avid Spiderman reader since the age of 5, I enjoyed the way the new film approached the character as it was fundamentally closer to its original form. So in the end, my amazement that someone would want a rushed film for no good reason makes me a Justin Beiber fan. Oh the logic of internet message boards….
Comment by acrossalloceans — March 7, 2013 @ 6:48 pm
What is rushed was that Script that you love.
It was something only a 10 year old fanboy wouldn’t see thru.
So I’m guessing you started reading Spiderman 5 years ago.
Yeah everyone is entitled to there opinion. And IMPD are people like you and me rating films. So take it for what it is.
Yeah I have a very Jaded and Sarcastic view of how Hollywood makes movies. So I tend to notice the Stupid Crap when it’s being forced feed to me.
But it’s others that actually like it that makes them keep serving up this crap in the first place.
I like solid writing and people reacting to things like it happens in the real world. I find it Cheap Cheap Cheap to circumvent such rationality just to make some 10 year old go “WOW” when one could just spend a few more minutes and create just as powerful a scene but without insulting people who care about intelligence in film.
Comment by Midas68 — March 7, 2013 @ 7:29 pm
I have to agree with you Midas, though not as harshly. The reboot was very stylized which made it fun to look at, but I felt they did Parker wrong. He was to showy and full of himself as Parker, but I liked him as Spider-Man, (The opposite of how I felt about Mcguire) Garfield was able to bring the witty banter that Toby failed to bring. But I thought the reboot was boring, they weren’t very true to Spider-Mans up-bringing (I don’t know what acrossallocean’s been reading, perhaps Ultimate?) Anyway long opinion short, the first two Raimis films were by far the best to date.
Comment by Jeremy Clopton — March 8, 2013 @ 4:14 am