Last week we reported that writer-director Gary Ross (”Pleasantville”, “Seabiscuit”) was in talks with Columbia to direct their “Spider-Man” spinoff movie, “Venom” about the Spider-Man villain who has Spider-Man’s powers but he’s got claws and is muscular and slobbers a lot.  I didn’t see much of a need for a Venom movie so I’m delighted to learn that Ross is pushing “Venom” aside to take on Donald Hamilton’s “Matt Helm” series about a swinging, pulpy super-spy.  Hit the jump for more details.

We don’t need a Venom movie.  Underneath his proto-”Spawn” design, he’s a simple and boring character.  Eddie Brock/Venom is the polar opposite Peter Parker/Spider-Man and the main goal of both is to kill Spider-Man, a goal which should be no problem to accomplish in a movie that doesn’t have Spider-Man.  But fanboys love the drooling doofus so Columbia has been hard at work on a spinoff. Last we heard, “Zombieland” writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese were on the project but that no longer seems to be the case as its now looks like “Seabiscuit” director and “Spider-Man 4″ screenwriter Gary Ross may write and direct the project.  Hit the jump for more details as well as bafflement as to how you make a “Venom” movie that isn’t just a two-minute tech demo.

Spider-Man will be back in IMAX theaters on May 5^th, 2011.  After staking out that critical “First Weekend of Summer” release date for “Spider-Man 4″ back in June, Columbia Pictures today announced that the movie also has its IMAX contracts for the very same date in order.

At this point it would be more surprising if IMAX and Columbia had decided to skip the whole IMAX thing for “Spider-Man 4″.  The franchise has been a huge property in the digitally-enhanced format and we’ve all seen how those IMAX sales can tip a movie over the top financially.  You can read some of what Sony Pictures had to say in today’s press release after the jump.

While “Spider-Man 4″ is still being put together, Sony is not wasting any more time scheduling Peter Parker’s future adventures on movie screens as they’ve hired James Vanderbilt (”The Losers”, “Zodiac”) to pen both “Spider-Man 5″ and “Spider-Man 6″! So what does that mean for the future of the franchise and director Sam Raimi’s involvement? It’s after the jump:

While I remain in disbelief that they’re even making a “Spider-Man 4″ (I know it’s actually happening; I just thought it would remain in development hell for longer, especially after the disappointment of the third film), it’s not slowing down with Variety reporting that writer/director Gary Ross is coming on board to re-write the script.  The script was first handled by James Vanderbilt (”Zodiac”) and then David Lindsay-Abaire (”Inkheart”).  The addition of Ross, who wrote “Dave”, “Pleasantville”, and “Seabiscuit”, signals that the new installment may be headed in a slightly saccharine direction.  That’s not the worst thing.  Spidey is a character that can go dark and brooding but he can also be light-hearted and fancy-free.  Personally, I’ve had a little too much dark and brooding and bringing Ross on board says “We know ‘The Dark Knight’ was successful but we’re going to do our own thing.”  Good for them.

“Spider-Man 4″ is currently slated to hit theatres on May 6, 2011.  Sam Raimi will return to direct and Tobey Maguire is returning as Peter Parker/Spider-Man.