New cast planned for next 'Spider-Man'

CULVER CITY, Calif., Jan. 12 (UPI) -- Hollywood's Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios said their next "Spider-Man" flick will feature a new cast and be released in the summer of 2012.

The three recent "Spider-Man" blockbusters starred Tobey Maguire, 34, as Peter Parker and his super-powered alter-ego Spider-Man, and Kirsten Dunst, 27, as his love interest Mary Jane. The trilogy was directed by Sam Raimi.

However, Columbia and Marvel said Monday the next installment of their franchise is based on a script by James Vanderbilt and focuses on Parker/Spider-Man as a teenager dealing with both contemporary human problems and amazing super-human crises.

"We have had a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration and friendship with Sam and Tobey and they have given us their best for the better part of the last decade. This is a bittersweet moment for us because while it is hard to imagine Spider-Man in anyone else's hands, I know that this was a day that was inevitable," Matt Tolmach, president of Columbia Pictures, who has served as the studio's chief production executive since the beginning of the franchise, said in a statement. "Now everything begins anew, and that's got us all tremendously excited about what comes next."

"Working on the Spider-Man movies was the experience of a lifetime for me. While we were looking forward to doing a fourth one together, the studio and Marvel have a unique opportunity to take the franchise in a new direction, and I know they will do a terrific job," added Raimi.