UPDATE: Andrew Garfield (Boy A, Red Riding Trilogy) has officially been announced as the new Spider-man. And 500 Days of Summer director Marc Webb will take over the new trilogy.
Sony has announced, after several weeks of a head-butting contest between the studio and Raimi, that Spider-Man 4 will be shelved and the Raimi-directed Spider-Man franchise as we know it is dead.
The reboot, which will be scripted by James Vanderbilt, will return Peter Parker to his high school roots where he comes into very close contact with a radioactive spider and yada yada yada.
Do we really need this rebooted less than ten years from the origin story? Well I hope Sony has realized they created a precedent. Whenever this series fails - I'm assuming immediately - they will go right back to the beginning every time. The audience cared where Peter Parker's character was going, we grew up with him. You can't identify with a perpetual teenager. I can only hope that Robert Pattinson isn't announced as Peter Parker.