Andrew Garfield will reprise his role as Peter Parker in the follow-up to this summer's "The Amazing Spider-Man," Sony announced on Friday.
Director Marc Webb (pictured below) will return as well, and so may Emma Stone, who played Spidey's love interest Gwen Stacy in the reboot of the comic book franchise.
Columbia Pictures said Stone, Garfield's real-life girlfriend, is in talks to reprise her role in the sequel, which is scheduled for a May 2, 2014 release.
The new film will begin production in early 2013 from a script by writing duo Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci, as well as Jeff Pinker. James Vanderbilt wrote an earlier draft.
Kurtzman made his directorial debut this past summer with "People Like Us," but he and Orci have penned a string of hits, from their work on a pair of Michael Bay's "Transformers" films to J.J. Abrams' remake of "Star Trek."
“We could not be more confident in the direction we are taking this new Spider-Man storyline and we are tremendously excited to be ramping up production again with Marc at the helm and Andrew continuing on as Peter Parker," Doug Belgrad, president of Columbia Pictures, said in a statement. "We can’t wait to share what we have in store for Peter and Spider-Man with audiences worldwide.”
Sony's decision to bring back Webb, a music video director who made a splashy feature debut with "(500) Days of Summer," speaks to its satisfaction with the box-office performance of "The Amazing Spider-Man."
Also Read: 'Amazing Spider-Man' Premiere: On the Red Carpet With Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone
The film was one of the summer's biggest blockbusters, grossing more than $750 million worldwide.
Many critics and fans found the film a bit tired, as Sony rebooted the franchise just a decade after launching its initial "Spiderman" franchise (the films with Tobey Maguire playing Peter Parker).
Still, the performances of Garfield and Stone were both well-received, and their chemistry in particular shone through.
Garfield is coming off a Tony nomination for his performance in a revival of Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" while Stone continues to move up the list of Hollywood's top actresses.
She has several movies scheduled for release next year, including Ruben Fleischer's "Gangster Squad" and Elizabeth Banks' ensemble comedy "Movie 43."