With its release not down until the summer of 2011, it's perhaps understandable that Sony is taking a bit of time to get the guts of Spider-Man 4 right before Sam Raimi starts rolling his cameras. We knew that the first draft of the script was being scribbled, as Raimi trotted off around the world to promote his excellent Drag Me To Hell. A first draft was penned by James Vanderbilt, with a rewrite coming from David Lindsay-Abaire. And now Sony has hired Gary Ross - best known for writing and directing Seabiscuit and Pleasantville - to take a stab at the script.

Variety reports that Ross has come aboard the project (having worked before with Spidey-star Tobey Maguire on the hugely unappreciated Pleasantville), and he'll be working on a new version of the screenplay, with the plan being to have the film in production early next year.

We're still, of course, none the wiser as to who the villains of the piece will be either. Bah.

Variety