Over Christmas, reports ran rampant that Spider-Man 4 was having problems.

Now those rumours have been all-but confirmed by Hollywood insider Nikki Finke on her blog .

Verifying that issues with the film’s villains are to blame, Nikki published an email sent out to the visual effects team that stated “Sam Raimi has story issues [that] need to be resolved before we are ready to shoot”.

Apparently, Raimi and Sony are still at loggerheads over who should be the villain (or villains) in the fourth Spidey flick. The script is currently being given another overhaul by screenwriter Alvin Sargent, who penned the first two web-slinging outings.

Nikki added: “Raimi and Sony are anxiously waiting for still another version from screenwriter Alvin Sargent, who wrote Spidey 2 & 3 and is married to Spidey franchise producer Laura Ziskind.”

Meanwhile, an insider has stated that it’s unlikely the film’s original release date of May 11, 2011 will be made (though take that one with a pinch of salt).

Really, you can’t blame Raimi for wanting to get this right. Spider-Man 3 came under fire for its convoluted plotting, mostly thanks to its over-abundance of villains. So it’s vital that this aspect of the fourth film is done right.

This kind of thing happens in Hollywood all the time. More importantly, Sony know how much of a money-grabber the Spider-Man franchise is, so they’ll want to get the ball rolling as soon as possible.

Let’s just hope Raimi doesn’t walk before that happens.

Which villain(s) do you want to see in Spidey 4 ? Tell us below...

