my theory is Sandman won't last passed the first quarter of the movie. and this is the beginning. Spidey will brawl with Sandman, win, and then the symbiote story will mold its way in. I mean, c'mon, what are they gonna do? have Spidey's first fight be against some bank robbers or car thieves where no challenge is posed? or how about this for originality: A BURNING BUILDING! surely we haven't seen that yet in SM1 or 2... right.
they're raising the bar in this movie and certainly they're not gonna start off with Spidey fighting crap criminals. this time a bigger criminal will do the trick. and I wouldn't call Sandman a villain, just a criminal. Spiderman will make relatively quick work of the dipstick but it'll be way more interesting than watching him swinging through the intersections chasing cheap suckers.