Andrew Garfield and Director Marc Webb to Return for 'Amazing Spider-Man' Sequel

Ending months of speculation about whether he would return to the Spider-Man franchise he helped reboot, director Marc Webb has signed on to helm the webslinger's next outing for Columbia Pictures.

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The sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man will begin shooting in early 2013, with Andrew Garfield also returning as the superhero. Emma Stone is in talks to continue her role as Peter Parker's love interest Gwen Stacy.

There has been little doubt that Garfield and Stone would be back for a second outing, but Webb's deal has been the major question mark. Webb was paid roughly $1 million for the first chapter in the Spider-Man reboot, according to sources, and was looking for a pay raise in the wake of the film's $750 million-plus worldwide box-office haul and fanboy response.

The screenplay is by Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci and Jeff Pinkner based on a previous draft by James Vanderbilt. The film will be produced by Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach.

The sequel is set for release May 2, 2014.

“We could not be more confident in the direction we are taking this new Spider-Man storyline, and we are tremendously excited to be ramping up production again with Marc at the helm and Andrew continuing on as Peter Parker," Columbia president Doug Belgrad said. "We can’t wait to share what we have in store for Peter and Spider-Man with audiences worldwide.”