Villain dispute could delay Spider-Man 4

The forthcoming instalment of the massively successful Spider-Man film franchise has reportedly run into a roadblock that could derail its scheduled May 2011 opening.

Hollywood began buzzing last month about a rift between director Sam Raimi and the film franchise's studio, Sony, over the script and a hiatus in pre-production work on the comic book movie sequel.

At the time, Sony denied reports of a conflict and cited a holiday break for the work stoppage.

Now, according to industry paper the Hollywood Reporter and other outlets, Raimi and Sony are quarrelling over the film's plot, namely the choice of villains to include.

The dispute has its origins in the making of Spider-Man 3, in which Raimi wanted to include two classic Spider-Man villains: Sandman and The Vulture. However, Sony overruled the longtime comic book fan in the latter case, favouring the slick alien-infused Venom character instead.

Spider-Man 3 was subsequently panned by fans and critics and is considered by many the weakest of the internationally successful series.

The Vulture, a winged, super-strong former engineer-turned-killer,will be an adversary to the web-slinger in the fourth film. However, Sony is said to be pushing for the inclusion of other rivals and the cat burglarFelicia Hardy as a romantic sub-plot, while Raimi wants The Vulture to be portrayed byJohn Malkovich as the primary villain.

A host of screenwriters have worked on various versions of the script to no avail.

According to influential Hollywood blogger Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood Daily, the production remains stalled. Production had been set to begin this spring, but filming is in question without an agreed upon script.

The delays also put into jeopardy the new instalment's slated May 2011 premiere, which in turn could have ramifications for a whole slate of other films that base their release dates on major "tent-pole" titles such as Spider-Man.