Jeremy here...
With a locked-in July 28, 2017 release date looming, it's time for Sony to get cracking on its Marvel Studios-friendly iteration of Spider-Man. According to Latino Review, the studio is indeed moving forward quickly, and already has a writer-director in place: Drew Goddard.
The CABIN IN THE WOODS director is a holdover from the now-scrapped AMAZING SPIDER-MAN series that was once to include spinoff films for Venom and The Sinister Six. Goddard will be developing a 100% clean reboot with producers Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal. LR's report specifies that former Marvel chairman, Avi Arad, will receive a courtesy Executive Producer credit on the new series, but will have zero say in the project's development. This is important as Ike Perlmutter, the current CEO of Marvel Entertainment, only allowed Feige to team with Sony on the condition that Arad would be removed from the creative process.
LR also reports that the likely title of the new film will be THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN. Happily, this will not be an origin story, but rather - and this is LR's take - a tale of high-school-aged Peter Parker/Spidey battling Iron Man and "auditioning" for The Avengers. IRON MAN in a Sony Spider-Man film? This is the first I've heard of it. My understanding was that the new Spider-Man would be introduced in CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, which is due out May 6, 2016. There's also a possibility of a different SINISTER SIX movie down the road, but that's just one of several ideas being kicked around. I think a BLACK CAT movie is far likelier, but, again, this is all years away. Right now, it's about casting a truly young Peter Parker, and getting audiences excited about the webslinger again. With Goddard at the helm (and no input from Arad or Kurtzman/Orci), I think we've every reason to be optimistic about this new direction.
