Has The Amazing Spider-Man 3 Been Delayed Until 2017?

Earlier this afternoon, rumors broke out that Warner Bros. has big plans for their cinematic universe, which supposedly includes seven films that will arrive from 2016 to 2018. While WB takes steps toward building and expanding their DC brand, it looks like Sony may actually be taking a step back from their superhero property and could be delaying The Amazing Spider-Man 3 until 2017.

The rumor comes to us from Ain’t It Cool News, who included the cryptic nugget of information in their bigger report about the DC update:

“What does [Warner Bros’ plan] mean for Marvel Studios? Fuck all, really. DC has to prove they can compete before Marvel makes any changes to their schedule. As for the Marvel orphans at Fox and Sony, I don’t know much about the latter, but I have been told that THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 3 has been moved to an undetermined date in 2017. Time for a second reboot?”

Another reboot is probably out of the question, at least until after The Amazing Spider-Man 4. Instead, let’s examine the more plausible reasons for why Sony would move Spider-Man’s third outing from his previous June 10th, 2016 release date.

First of all, Sony had to notice the diminishing domestic box office returns for the web-slinger’s latest outing, TASM 2, as well its mixed to negative critical reception. Many of the problems with the film stemmed from Sony’s attempt to shoehorn in the larger, shared-universe elements that will allow for the upcoming Sinister Six and Venom spinoffs. Sony could be taking a step back to spend a bit more time properly setting up their Spidey-verse and villain-centric movies.

Another possibility is that they plan to move Sinister Six to 2016, and use that film to set up a trilogy-ending installment with TASM 3 that pits Spider-Man against all six of the Sinister foes. Drew Goddard recently dropped out of shepherding Marvel’s Daredevil series in order to focus on directing Sinister Six, so there’s a good chance that Sony begin production on the film before TASM 3. 

Then, of course, there’s the fact that Marc Webb – who directed the first two Amazing Spider-Man movies and has already signed on for the third – is still under contract to make a movie for Fox. That’s the big reason why a jarring X-Men: Days of Future Past teaser has embedded in TASM 2’s end-credits sequence. So, maybe he’ll direct that film before jumping back into bringing the wall crawler to the big screen.

In any case, we still don’t know for a fact that the film has been delayed, so take the news with a grain of salt for now, and keep an eye on We Got This Covered for all future updates on The Amazing Spider-Man 3.