Spider-Man 4 Development Paused Amid Writers' Strike
Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios' Spider-Man 4 is tangled in the web of the Hollywood writers' strike. Spider-Verse producer Amy Pascal confirms work on the sequel to Spider-Man: No Way Home has been put on hold amid the WGA strike, which paused pre-production on Marvel's upcoming Blade and Thunderbolts movies. In 2021, Pascal and Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige announced Sony and Disney had begun actively developing the story for Spider-Man 4, and by February 2023, Feige revealed that writers were "just putting pen to paper." But as of May 1st, those pens are down as members of the Writers Guild of America strike to demand fair pay and an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers.
"Are we going to make another movie? Of course, we are," Pascal told Variety of Spider-Man 4 at the premiere of Sony's animated Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. "We're in the process, but the writers strike, nobody is working during the strike. We're all being supporters and whenever they get themselves together, we'll get started."
Tom Rothman, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Motion Picture Group, added about the live-action franchise's future: "If I told you, I'd have to kill you."
The untitled fourth Spider-Man movie is expected to reunite trilogy stars Tom Holland and Zendaya, who played Peter Parker and MJ in 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming, 2019's Spider-Man: Far From Home, and 2021's No Way Home. "All I will say is that we have the story," Feige told Entertainment Weekly in February about the next installment. "We have big ideas for that."
It's been reported that Holland signed a deal for a second solo Spider-Man trilogy and appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, potentially in Marvel Studios films Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.
"[Spider-Man: No Way Home] is not the last movie that we are going to make with Marvel — [this is not] the last Spider-Man movie," Pascal said of director Jon Watts' trilogy capper in 2021. "We are getting ready to make the next Spider-Man movie with Tom Holland and Marvel. We're thinking of this as three films, and now we're going to go onto the next three. This is not the last of our MCU movies."
In a 2021 interview with The New York Times, Feige confirmed that Sony and Disney would continue to partner on the live-action Spider-Man franchise after No Way Home — which united Spider-Men Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire — webbed up $1.92 billion at the global box office. "We're actively beginning to develop where the story heads next, which I only say outright because I don't want fans to go through any separation trauma like what happened after Far From Home," Feige said, referring to the expired pact for the five-film deal that shared the character in Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Feige added that another split "will not be occurring this time."