Broken Frontier

Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man 3 debuted on Monday in Tokyo, Japan to an enthusiastic audience. Meanwhile, speculation on whether there will be a fourth film got into a higher gear.

Over 2,000 guests were on hand for yesterday’s Spider-Man 3 premiere in the land of the rising sun. Apart from all the fanfare, the Tokyo release was a unique occasion in and of itself since it marked the first time such a major Hollywood release has debuted outside of the US. The move was made by Sony CEO Howard Stringer to boost Sony’s profile as a company that’s up to other stuff besides Playstations and other electronic hardware.

Regardless of the early Tokyo premiere, two and a half weeks before its stateside debut on May 4, the big question remains whether there will be a fourth film. At the Tokyo press conference, the stars and director in attendance kept their mouths shut on the subject, though Kirsten Dunst might have spilled the beans a little bit when she answered a question about the development of Mary Jane’s character in Spider-Man 3:

"I admire her bravery and she's always been a challenging character for me. I think this last film—not the last film, but the third film—has really been a combination of that growth of family," she said, referring to the cast. "It's really apparent on the screen because of all the hard work we've put into it."

Speculation will continue to run rampant for some time, since Sony wants to put a fourth blockbuster in production, but the future will have to point out whether Dunst, Tobey Maguire and director Sam Raimi are ready to give it another go. Raimi has expressed a great deal of interest in directing JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit in case New Line Cinema wants to hire him and the project doesn’t end up in the hands of Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson first.

The director told Entertainment Weekly, ''Peter Jackson might be the best filmmaker on the planet right now. But, um, I don't know what's going to happen next for me right now. First and foremost, those are Peter Jackson and Bob Shaye's films. If Peter didn't want to do it, and Bob wanted me to do it — and they were both okay with me picking up the reins — that would be great. I love the book. It's maybe a more kid-friendly story than the others.''

In the same article, Kirsten Dunst stated that a Spider-Man 4 project shouldn’t be considered if the original team was not fully retained. ''It's disrespectful to the whole team, I think, to do that. And audiences aren't stupid. It'd be a big flop without me, Tobey, or Sam. That would really not be the smartest move. But they know that already. [Sony chief] Amy Pascal would never do that.''

The last word was for Matt Tolmach, President of Production at Sony:  ''Listen, we're making Spider-Man 4. Our hope, dream, and intention is to do it with Sam. But I don't have a crystal ball.''

Official movie website