Star Tobey Maguire and director Sam Raimi are close to signing for two more Spider-Man films, according to Hollywood Reporter.  Columbia is considering shooting both films in one fell swoop, according to the report, in order to contain costs for the effects-heavy tentpoles.  The studio did not comment on whether co-star Kirsten Dunst would join Maguire in the new films, or on who the villains would be.   

The release date for Spider-Man 4 will be May 2011 (see “Sony Ponys Up for Spider-Man 4”), with the fifth film to follow. 

The report also named the writers working on the re-write of the Venom spin-off flick (see “Sony Wants to Milk ‘Venom’”):  Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese of Zombieland.