Col hands Vanderbilt pen for 'Spidey 4'

October 31, 2007 Laura Ziskin is returning as producer of the billion-dollar franchise, though no deals have been made to bring back series director Sam Raimi or stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. Plot points are being closely guarded by the studio, though the intent is to scale back the story to include only two villains instead of repeating the "Spider-Man 3" model. Several writers were being considered for the fourth installment, and Vanderbilt, who wrote the thoughtful if dark "Zodiac," apparently was chosen by Sony brass for his character-driven approach to the story rather than a focus on special effects.

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