HitFix just reported that a source close to the production has said that Logan Lerman is the frontrunner to be the next Spider-Man. Contract negotiations have not started, but the source says that Lerman is “almost 100% locked” to star in Marc Webb’s Spider-Man reboot.

This comes only a few short months after Sam Raimi departed the franchise, leading Sony to decide to send Peter Parker back to high school. This new beginning will focus more on “a teenager grappling with both contemporary human problems and amazing super-human crises.” The picture is helmed by Marc Webb ((500) Days of Summer) and based on a script by Jamie Vanderbilt.

First of all, I think rebooting the franchise was probably the best thing to do. This way, the movie will actually have time to develop, and maybe a new cast could bring a whole new angle on Spidey. However, I hope the film will still appeal to fans of the superhero, and not be too bogged down with this teen drama stuff.

Lerman was just seen in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, which I did not enjoy, but his performance wasn’t bad. Given a good script, I think he could definitely make a good, young Peter Parker. What do you think of the casting?

The new Spider-Man swings into theaters July 3, 2012.

With a planned reboot of Sony and Marvel’s hit Spider-Man franchise underway, it was only a matter of time before casting rumors began to swirl for the web-slinging lead. The first name to be thrown into the ring is newcomer Logan Lerman who will be making his big screen debut this year in another adventure franchise film, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.

Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush asked Lerman about the prospect:

“There have been a few discussions, it’s definitely something I’m looking into,” Logan told Billy on Thursday.

The 18-year-old actor said he’s been a hardcore fan of the web-slinger for years.

“It’s one of my favorite characters ever and I’m a huge fan of the series,” he continued. “I’d love to have more conversations about it. I’m definitely very interested in it.”

If selected for the role, Lerman would be stepping into the boots of Tobey Maguire (Golden Globe nominee for last year’s Brothers) who carried the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man over five years and three massively successful movies.

Acclaimed indie director Mac Webb ((500) Days of Summer) has signed on to helm the reboot.

Up-and-coming indie director Marc Webb has officially signed on to helm Sony’s proposed reboot of the Spider-Man series, following previous director Sam Raimi’s departure from the hit franchise.

Webb is best known for last year’s breakout Sundance hit, (500) Days Of Summer and countless music videos and commercials. This would be his first film with a major studio, and coming fresh off the unique visual touches of Summer, the movie world is now curious to see what he can bring to the ongoing story of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

The Sam Raimi-led Spider-Man trilogy, beginning in 2002 and running through 2007′s third installment, was one of the highest-grossing and most profitable film franchises in history, setting countless records and helping to keep the box office strong in a particularly trying period for the industry.

The newest addition to the web-slinger’s film canon is reportedly being scripted by James Vanderbilt (Zodiac, this year’s upcoming The Losers,) and is tentatively scheduled for a 2012 release.

500 Days of Summer director Marc Webb is in talks to direct Just Another Love Story. The film will become a remake of the hit 2007 Danish film of the same title. The Hollywood Reporter tells us more:

Ole Bornedal directed the original, which broke out at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008. The film tells of a crime photographer who pretends to be the boyfriend of an amnesiac, only to face the wrath of the actual boyfriend when he finds out about the deception. James Mangold, Cathy Konrad and Nathan Kahane are exec producing. Nicole Brown is overseeing for Mandate.

Currently Marc Webb, hot off the heels of his recent feature, is already signed on to direct Jesus Christ Superstar as well as Age of Rage.

(In this weekly column, I’ll take two films, one old and one new, and compare them in terms of theme and substance, hopefully in some interesting ways. I’ll be trying not to spoil too much of these films, but in order to dissect them properly I’ll have to venture into spoiler territory a little.)

(Minor Spoiler Warning for (500) Days of Summer and The Graduate follow)

To dwell too long on the homage toward Mike Nichols’ The Graduate drawn by Marc Webb’s new non-romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer would be to state the obvious. In fact, when images from one film actually appear in another, I feel like it stops being homage and starts being an overt, friendly nudge to what’s come before. Anyone who has seen Webb’s film knows what I’m talking about, and should also know that Dustin Hoffman’s winking smile used to poppily visualize Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Tom Hansen’s mindset in 500 is perfectly at home in a wonderful film.

Even without the visual cue, the tale of Tom Hansen and Summer Finn’s romantic rollercoaster ride would evoke memories in the educated filmgoer of The Graduate. I mean, the first five minutes of The Graduate have parallels in a variety of films, ranging from Jackie Brown‘s opening credit sequence to Garden State‘s immediate sense of morose to Donnie Darko‘s … immediate sense of morose. That one even shares an actress, the talented Katharine Ross.

However, there’s value to comparison between  (500) Days of Summer and The Graduate, though, on more than just a superficial level. Both Tom Hansen and Dustin Hoffman’s Benjamin in The Graduate are desperate youths, products of a society that markets and tampers with the emotional tracks of the next generation. Tom, as he so astutely remarks, has been force-fed romantic malarkey on store-bought cards since the cradle, leading him to idealize relationships and make mountains out of molehills. Benjamin is a talent pulled in a hundred directions at once (literally, in the case of The Graduate‘s opening scene) by an older generation’s apathy and clockwork mechanics.

Benjamin’s seduction by the infamous Mrs. Robinson is a seduction by the hand of a whole slew of bad ideas being thrown his way; Tom’s catastrophic (and hilariously relatable) relationship with Summer is the sad consequence of around 23 years of misconception. Tom’s journey is Benjamin’s, a mad dash through post-college anonymity through one means or another. Without ruining much of either film, it’s safe to say that both characters have much more of a path to travel before they find Mrs. Right, or a even a sense of direction. Both films revolve around spinning compasses.

As a person who is slowly approaching my graduation from college, it’s not hard to relate to both of these men. Watching both of this films within the span of a month at this point in my life is poignant and sad and funny in just the ways the filmmakers intended. If (500) Days of Summer were a weaker film, its inclusion of footage from The Graduate would seem awkward and unnecessary; as it stands, it threads the film to a much larger cloth of movies that don’t just define events and characters, but movements and periods in life. Gordon-Levitt is a torchbearer for Hoffman’s iconic character, and while one film is a classic, both will undoubtedly be of equal importance to me.

Try to catch (500) Days of Summer before it leaves theaters. In a summer filled with the usual fluffy, explosive entertainment, Marc Webb’s film is unusual, insightful and inventive, with a visual flair that owes much to The Graduate. If you haven’t seen that film, do. It’s as pertinent, funny and phenomenally well-acted as it was the day it was released.

(500) Days of Summer is really one of the best films of the year. It’s the type of indie movie that follows the beat of it’s own drum but doesn’t pummel you with it’s quirkiness. Forget crap like The Ugly Truth, and The Proposal, this is THE romantic comedy to beat this year. It’s a nice script featuring the best female performance of the year (so far) from Zooey Deschanel and an equally as good job from Joeseph Gordon-Levitt. Credit should be given to Marc Webb who does an excellent job giving the film it’s own style and never succumbing to most of the traps first time directors usually do.

The fine folk over at Film School Rejects have posted the release dates and cities for when you can see this film. Strongly, strongly suggested you should but what do I know? I’m just that “road block on the speeding highway” of reviews or something retarded like that.

Check out when and where you can see this greatness below.

Friday, July 17th

• Boston
• Chicago
• Dallas/Ft. Worth
• Los Angeles
• San Diego
• New York
• San Francisco
• Seattle
• Toronto
• Washington, D.C.

Friday, July 24th

• Atlanta
• Austin
• Baltimore
• Cleveland
• Denver
• Detroit
• Houston
• Indianapolis
• Madison
• Milwaukee
• Minneapolis
• Montreal
• Philadelphia
• Phoenix
• Portland
• St. Louis
• Vancouver

Friday, July 31st

• Albany
• Albuquerque
  
• Ann Arbor
• Boca Raton/West Palm Beach
• Buffalo
• Calgary
• Charlotte
• Cincinnati
• Columbus
• Edmonton
• Fresno
• Halifax
• Hartford/New Haven
• Honolulu
• Kansas City
• Kitchener
• Miami/Fort Lauderdale
• Nashville
• New Orleans
• Orlando
• Ottawa
• Pittsburgh
• Richmond
  
• Rochester
• Sacramento
• Salt Lake
• San Antonio
• St. John
• Tampa/St. Petersburg
• Tucson
• Victoria
• Winnipeg

Friday, August 7th

• Anchorage
• Asheville
• Baton Rouge
• Birmingham
• Boise
• Champaign/Decatur/Springfield
• Charlottesville
• Colorado Springs
• Corpus Christi
• Dayton
• Des Moines
• El Paso
• Fort Myers
• Gainesville
• Grand Rapids
• Harrisburg, PA
• Ithaca
• Jacksonville
• Knoxville
• Lansing
• Las Vegas
• Lexington
• Louisville
• Memphis
• Norfolk/Newport News
• Northampton/Springfield
• Oklahoma City
• Omaha
• Portland, ME
• Providence
• Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill
• Reno
• Sarasota
• Santa Fe
• Spokane
• Syracuse
• Tallahassee
• Tulsa