UPDATE
Holland posted video to his Instagram account two days ago that should have tipped us off. Here he is showing off his Spidey moves from his East London home. The original story is below.
More fun more fun A video posted by ✌️ (@tomholland2013) on
After months and months of speculation, we finally have our new Peter Parker and it’s Tom Holland. But that’s not all, the new Spider-Man film, set to open July 28th, 2017, has also found it director in Jon Watts, whose Sundance hit Cop Car opens August 7th. Apparently, the directing gig came down to Watts and St. Vincent director Ted Melfi — how Melfi was ever in contention is something that I’ll never understand.
Holland will first appear, briefly, as Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War, which is currently in production. This is the first big announcement from producers Amy Pascal and Kevin Feige since they first shook up the comic book movie world with the announcement. Of course, untitled Spider-Man reboot doesn’t have any writers attached, and both Holland and Watts are such relative newcomers that runaway expectations are almost impossible. What is certain, though, is that we’ll have our third incarnation of Spider-Man hitting screens soon, and our 6th Spider-Man movie in 15 years. I’m just not sure whether to feel excitement, overload, or indifference.
Here’s the full press release:
Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios Find Their ‘Spider-Man’ Star and Director
Tom Holland Cast as the Web-Slinger, Jon Watts to Direct the Next Spider-Man Adventure
Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios are proud to announce that after a full worldwide casting search, Tom Holland will play Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the next Spider-Man film, in theaters in IMAX and 3D on July 28, 2017. The film will be directed by Jon Watts, director of “Cop Car,” the upcoming thriller that made its debut earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival.
Marvel and Sony Pictures, and producers Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal conducted an extensive search for both the actor and the director. The studios and producers were impressed by Holland’s performances in “The Impossible,” “Wolf Hall,” and the upcoming “In the Heart of the Sea,” and by a series of complex screen tests. Following Marvel’s tradition of working with the brightest next wave of directors, Watts also went through multiple meetings with Feige, Pascal, and the studio, before winning the job.
Commenting on the announcement, Tom Rothman, Sony Pictures Motion Pictures Group Chairman, said, “It’s a big day here at Sony. Kevin, Amy and their teams have done an incredible job. The Marvel process is very thorough, and that’s why their results are so outstanding. I’m confident Spider-Man will be no exception. I’ve worked with a number of up-and-coming directors who have gone on to be superstars and believe that Jon is just such an outstanding talent. For Spidey himself, we saw many terrific young actors, but Tom’s screen tests were special. All in all, we are off to a roaring start.”
Feige commented, “As with James Gunn, Joss Whedon, and the Russo brothers, we love finding new and exciting voices to bring these characters to life. We spent a lot of time with Jon and find his take and work inspiring.”
Pascal added, “Sony, Marvel, Kevin and I all knew that for Peter Parker, we had to find a vibrant, talented young actor capable of embodying one of the most well-known characters in the world. With Tom, we’ve found the perfect actor to bring Spider-Man’s story into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.”
Sony Pictures will finance and release worldwide the next installment of the $4 billion Spider-Man franchise on July 28, 2017, in a film co-produced by Kevin Feige and his expert team at Marvel and Amy Pascal, who oversaw the franchise launch for the studio 13 years ago. Together, they will collaborate on a new creative direction for the Web-Slinger.
Spider-Man, embraced all over the world, is the most successful franchise in the history of Sony Pictures, with the five films having taken in more than $4 billion worldwide.
