Reboot Camp

Not the new Spider Man movie. Or is it...?

It’s been announced last week that the Spider Man movies are getting a reboot. With the announcement of (500) Days of Summer director Marc Webb as the man behind the camera, it’s obvious that Sony is looking to seriously get away from Sam Raimi’s trilogy.

Yes, the costume taught him how to play piano.

The first question this brings to mind is: does the series really need a reboot already? Sure, Spider-Man 3 was kind of a mess, but the first two films still hold up. Also, with the new film planned for 2012, it’ll only have been 10 years since the first film, a short enough time for it still to be in filmgoers’ memories.

Then again, the quick reboot has been tried already – twice so far. Although they didn’t do much for the respective franchises, the films at least gave us a Hulk with out daddy issues and a Punisher without John Travolta.

Sees no problem with Thomas Jane's Punisher

For those of us who’ve grown up on comics (especially DC comics), the idea of the reboot is nothing new. Whether it was multiple Crises, or the Ultimate line, or events such as One More Day, we’re used to seeing the continuity we’ve spent years (or even decades) with get re-written in the space of a few months. DC’s even keeping the tradition alive with their upcoming Batman and Superman OGNs, completely bypassing the storylines of the monthlies. For superhero fans, reboots are as familiar as tights.

Remember the good old days?

But what about the general populace? Are they as keen on the idea of starting over every few years? Do they have the feeling of déjà vu when they see the same storyline played out over and over again, albeit with certain surface changes? Or do they care, as long as the story and action are good?

It could just be like with remakes, which Hollywood can’t seem to make enough of – the film has just enough newness to be enjoyable, but is familiar enough to justify dropping 10+ dollars on. And let’s face it, who wants to see a movie where they need 15 minutes of exposition to figure out what’s going on.

And on that note, it seems Brian Singer’s signed on to do an X-Men: First Class movie. Anything to make us forget about X-Men 3.

It never gets old... really.