True. And there is already a great precedent for indefinitely continuing a story with several actors in James Bond. I wonder why comic book movies cannot follow in Bond's footstep.
I actually think that's why people have had a hard time adjusting to the new re-booted
Spider-Man.
I mean, look at the other on-screen superheroes (or at least the ones that worked):
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Superman: From 1978-2006, we pretty much had the same cinematic Superman and even other media ventures (minus S:TAS) was heavily influenced by the Christopher Reeve stamp. 19 years after the franchise crashed and burned, they tried to revive it rather than reboot it. When it didn't work, the penny dropped that we had to let go.
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Batman: The Burton/Schumacher universe pretty much stayed intact from 1989-2003. Despite changing chins under the cowl and standalone tales, it was a Batman we had become accustomed to. Only when WB (or Schumacher) ran it into the ground...
and after an 8 year hiatus... did the character find rejuvenation. The character was allowed to rest and people developed an appetite. And it's worth noting, Nolan was the one who ended the era. I don't think most people would have objected to a 4th Bale Bat-pic.
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X-Men: It's been almost 15 years and 7 movies. We are still dealing with the same cast and continuity. The franchise may have taken tagents but it's remarkable how long FOX has managed to maintain interest. Now we have Bryan Singer, Ian Mac Kellan and Halle Berry, et al back. People will respond to it.
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Marvel Cinematic Universe: Well, no need to go into detail here. They've been building a continuity and getting people involved since 2008.
Even
Blade has been rested since the trilogy came to an end.
The Fantastic Four will see release 8 years after two underwhelming films.
Sony had no need to reboot a successful
Spider-Man franchise after three films. It was a solid trilogy that stumbled in it's third outing... but the general public seemed attached to it and there is no reason they wouldn't have invested in a fourth Maguire-led
Spider-Man sequel (Even without Raimi). In the space of five years, they threw everything out the window and lost a good portion of the audience in the process.
I kind of rambled there... But I do think Sony made some serious mis-calculations with this reboot.