James Vanderbilt to write 'Spider-Man 5 & 6'

"Spider-Man" is entering "Saw" territory as Sony is planning to develop at least a fifth and sixth film in the popular series that kicked of with Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" in 2002. That's right, Spidey will continue to protect the neighborhood on the big-screen for who knows how long.

From Variety comes the news that James Vanderbilt is set to write "Spider-Man 5" and "Spider-Man 6." Vanderbilt started writing the upcoming "Spider-Man 4," which was rewritten by David Lindsay-Abaire and then Gary Ross. That film is set for release in May 2011.

No other details are provided at this point, but apparently, the fifth and six films will boast an interconnected story. No word on whether Sam Raimi, Kirsten Dunst or Tobey Maguire will want to participate in two more films. If not, Sony will take Vanderbilt's scripts and use them to launch a reboot. Yep, they're really moving fast on this one.

"Spider-Man 3" opened in 2007 and grossed $890 million worldwide. Sony plans on releasing more films within a shorter period of time. Whatever they do, I sure hope the film or films will be better than that third installment. That one kind of disappointed me.

As for Vanderbilt, he also wrote "The Rundown," "Zodiac" and "The Losers." Oh yeah, he's also partly to blame for the shockingly terrible "Darkness Falls."