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Spider-Man musical gets new producers -- and a Peter Parker

Reeve Carney

The creative team behind Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark emerged from today's meeting with an announcement about new producers and official word on the musical's lead actor.

What they didn't reveal, however, was a specific date for the troubled Broadway musical, only saying that it will open in 2010 at the Hilton Theatre in Manhattan. The show, whose proposed budget has ballooned to $52 million, initially was set to bow in late March, but the most recent rumors had it opening past April 29 -- the cutoff for Tony Award nominations.

The creative team confirmed relative newcomer Reeve Carney, long rumored for the role, has been cast as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. The casting initially had been reported this morning in the Los Angeles Times. The 26-year-old Carney, lead singer of the rock band of the same name, also will appear in Spider-Man director Julie Taymor's big-screen adaptation of The Tempest.

In Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Carney joins Evan Rachel Wood as Mary Jane and Alan Cumming as Green Goblin in a production scored by Bono and the Edge.

This afternoon's press release also included the announcement that Michael Cohl has replaced Chicago lawyer David Garfinkle as lead producer, with Jeremiah J. Harris becoming second producer. The full producing team is Cohl, Harris, Hello Entertainment/Garfinkle, Marvel Entertainment/David Maisel, and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Future of troubled Spider-Man musical could be set today

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

The fate of the financially troubled Spider-Man Broadway musical could be decided today.

According to published reports, producers of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, whose budget has soared to $52 million, are meeting in Manhattan with director Julie Taymor and other members of the creative team to discuss the cash-flow problems that stalled production for nearly a month and cast doubt on the future of the production.

The musical had been set to preview in late February at a renovated Hilton Theatre, and then open sometime in March. But Patrick Healy of The New York Times writes that Taymor is expected to say rehearsals for the technically complex show won't be able to begin before January, which could push the opening past April 29 -- the cutoff date for Tony Award nominations.

Perhaps of more pressing concern is the $24 million needed to cover a proposed budget that ballooned to $52 million from an estimated $35 million, in part due to theater renovations and restorations. According to the Los Angeles Times, Spider-Man will cost about $1 million a week to produce -- "hundreds of thousands dollars more than what some elaborate shows such as Mary Poppins or West Side Story cost -- and require the 1,700-seat theater to sell out for every show for four years just to break even.

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, which boasts a musical score by Bono and the Edge, has cast Evan Rachel Wood as Mary Jane, Alan Cumming as Green Goblin and, apparently, relative newcomer Reeve Carney as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. (Carney, who will appear in Taymor's big-screen adaptation of The Tempest, long had been rumored for the role of Spider-Man but never confirmed.)

However, as the LA Times notes, with production delays the musical risks losing the cast to other projects. Cumming, for instance, was just added to the cast of Burlesque, which begins filming next week.

NOTE: A post detailing the announcements made after the meeting can be found here.

Sony returns all television rights to Spider-Man

The Spectacular Spider-Man

Just days before Disney announced its purchase of Marvel, Spectacular Spider-Man Executive Producer Greg Weisman was informed that Sony had returned all television rights to the wall-crawler.

The move, "in exchange for some concession vis-a-vis the live-action Spider-Man features," apparently took place  in late July, just before Comic-Con International.

The news came as producers were waiting to learn whether a third season of The Spectacular Spider-Man would be ordered. The animated series, which debuted in March 2008 on The CW's now-defunct Kids' WB! programming block, moved to Disney XD for its second season. Episodes from the first season also stream on Marvel's website.

It's unclear what this, and the Disney-Marvel deal, will mean to the future of the show.

"A number of folks at Marvel have said kind things about the show in the past," Weisman tells IGN.com, "but as you can imagine they have a LOT on their plates right now, so no one's talked to me about any potential pick-ups since the world turned a bit upside-down. What hasn't changed, I imagine, is that we're still waiting to hear whether Disney XD even WANTS a new season. If Disney XD decides they don't want any episodes, it's no longer likely that we'd shop the series around to XD's competitors. So any decision begins at XD, I would think. And before you ask, no, nobody at Disney has talked to me about the series. "

Digital Comics coming to the PSP in December (updated)

Marvel Digital Comics

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe announced a new digital reader for their PlayStation Portable device today at gamescom in Cologne, Germany, which will allow PSP users to download comic books and other media to read on the device. The Digital Comics service will include titles from Marvel, Archie Comics and Image Comics.

Per a story posted on Marvel.com, "The digital reader for PSPTM will offer content from Marvel that includes Spider-Man, X-Men and the Fantastic Four (and so many others!) whilst other content will include graphic novels, comics from a variety of local publishers and the latest underground sensations. More and more titles will arrive on PlayStation Store with monthly content updates, offering a huge choice of quality titles at your fingertips, allowing you to take your favorite comic characters with you on the move."

The new reader and Digital Comics service will be available in December. Sony made a number of other announcements as well, which include a cheaper PlayStation 3 and a PlayStation Video store, so be sure to click on the first link to read all about them.

Update: After the jump you'll find the official press release from Sony for the Digital Comics initiative. It will include titles from Marvel and IDW, as well as material that iVerse has licensed, which includes Archie Comics and some Image titles like Proof.

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