Tom Rothman, chairman of Sony Motion Pictures Group - which will produce (with Marvel) and finance the new Spider-Man franchise - gave Feige his blessing for Watts, who will follow an indie-to-tentpole path paved by previous Marvel helmers like James Gunn, who went from low-budget horror to giant sci-fi franchise with Guardians of the Galaxy. The decision came only over this past weekend, and some insiders say Watts and his CAA reps were then sworn to secrecy until an announcement could be readied for him and Holland. Feige is said to have handpicked 33-year old Watts (he turns 34 Sunday), falling for the filmmaker’s take on the world of Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Sources say Feige and Pascal were looking for someone with comedy experience but also with a perspective that would distinguish the new movies from the five already made in the past 13 years.

The testing process wasn’t easy for directors. Marc Webb, who helmed the two recent Amazing Spider-Man movies with Garfield, also got his start in music videos before making a splash at Sundance with 500 Days of Summer and scoring the Spider-Man gig.) He also has done extensive commercial and music video work, helming videos for Fatboy Slim and Death Cab for Cutie. But the dark horse (or dark spider) was Jon Watts, who hails from the comedy world (The Onion News Network is on his resume) but whose most recent film was the Sundance thriller Cop Car, a story about two kids who steal a police car belonging to a corrupt sheriff. Goldstein ( Vacation) and Ted Melfi ( St. Under consideration were Jonathan Levine ( Warm Bodies, 50-50) the team of John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. But still, there was the issue of the film not having a director.

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