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Spider-Man 3 reached cinemas in May 2007. By October 2008, Sam Raimi was talking publicly about Spider-Man 4. He and Maguire had both signed up (with Maguire believed to be taking $50 million, as well as having mornings and evenings off to spend time with his family), and the press were even suggesting that a fifth film in the franchise was being planned concurrently. In autumn 2009, while Ross was penning his draft, Raimi was planning to shoot the film in March 2010. An announced release date of 6th May 2011 loomed ever closer, but Sony seemed to have confidence in the future of Raimi's Spider-Man franchise at this point (as evidenced by the fact that Vanderbilt was tasked with plotting out storylines for Spider-Man 5 and Spider-Man 6, according to a report from Variety).

It was reported in December 2009 that the Marvel Comics character Felicia Hardy would be introduced in Spider-Man 4, with Anne Hathaway being looked at to play the role. Director Sam Raimi was believed to be taking the character in a different direction from the comics, having her become a supervillain named "Vulturess", to partner with John Malkovich as the Vulture, rather than the cat burglar known as Black Cat.

Spider-Man 4 will be in theaters and IMAX on May 5, 2011