In the newest edition of Entertainment Weekly, Andrew Garfield is keen to point out that his work in the new Amazing Spider-Man isn’t a “replacement” for the work done by Tobey Maguire even though, by definition, it is. While Sony won’t be scouring the world destroying copies of the other movies, Garfield is undoubtedly the new face of the franchise. That status was made official with the first look at his character  in action – perched on a subway train ceiling, clinging to Emma Stone while shirtless and staring over his shoulder dramatically. Ladies and gentlemen, here’s your new Spider-Man:

Heat Vision is reporting that Baz Luhrmann’s film version of The Great Gatsby is one step closer to filling out its principle cast. Most of the main roles have already been grabbed up at this point, and by actors that fit the bill pretty nicely; but this latest news gives me pause. Reportedly Isla Fisher is in negotiations to join the cast as Myrtle Wilson. Leonardo DiCaprio is playing the charming and mysterious Gatsby, which makes sense because of DiCaprio’s leading man looks. Tobey Maguire is playing the film’s everyman narrator Nick Carraway, which makes sense because everyone already thinks of him as the ultimate everyman Peter Parker. Carey Mulligan is playing Daisy Buchanan, which makes sense because Mulligan can do anything, and being a rich white girl is probably something she can pull of in her sleep. Ben Affleck was playing Tom Buchanan, which made sense because Buchanan is a jerk that cheats on his wife and slaps ladies around and, love him or hate him, you have to admit Affleck naturally projects a bit of that doucher vibe that would fit the character perfectly. However, Deadline East Egg is reporting that Affleck has been locked to direct and star in Argo, and won’t be available for Gatsby. And now Isla Fischer is playing Myrtle Wilson, the frumpy, plain, wife of a mechanic, which makes sense because, uh… I got nothing. I sure like looking at Isla Fischer though, so good news all around!

What is Movie News After Dark? It ain’t messin’ with you, bub. You should know that up front. It’s only bringing you the best of the weekend’s news, tidbits and otherwise noteworthy items. It believes that you shouldn’t mess around either. That’s why it recommends reading it every single night before you go to bed. Today begins with a project that I know many of you are excited about, 20th Century Fox’s Deadpool. A perfect fit is Ryan Reynolds in the titular role, as are Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick on scripting duties. This week the project got a director, effects artist Tim Miller, whose credits include X-Men, X2 and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. He has also served as the Inferno Supervisor (read: Guy Who is In Charge of Digital Explosions) on several other projects. That’s a pretty wicked line of work.

There aren’t many things that we know for sure about Baz Luhrman’s upcoming adaptation of “The Great Gatsby.” The man won’t even admit in a straightforward way that he is making the movie. There have been rumors that it would be in 3D, but who can say? The one thing that has seemed to be locked in pretty securely, however, has been the cast. Leonardo Dicaprio has always been set to play the title character Jay Gatsby. Carey Mulligan seems to be locked into playing the lead female role of Daisy Buchanan. And Tobey Maguire is reportedly on board to play the story’s observer and narrator Nick Carraway. Well now one more actor is in talks to join Luhrmann’s sure to be gaudy retelling of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic tale of big mansions and romantic revenge, Armageddon’s Ben Affleck. Reportedly, Affleck is looking to sign on as Daisy’s husband, and Jay Gatsby’s chief romantic rival, Tom Buchanan. I approve of this casting. While I like Affleck much more as a writer and director than I do as an actor, when I try to imagine the jerk that would be married to and cheating on the girl I love, Affleck’s face fits in the scenario very easily. I’m sure people will have a very easy time rooting for DiCaprio to take him down and win young Ms. Mulligan’s hand. But, how I feel about a director as wildly stylistic as Luhrmann taking on such dry source material is still way up [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

The Criterion Collection debuted two great releases last week with Ang Lee’s Ride With The Devil, and Sidney Lumet’s The Fugitive Kind. We didn’t have a chance to check either of these titles out yet, but we think both are worth talking about.

Drew McWeeny over at Hit Fix broke the news today that Sony Pictures has pretty much locked in Percy Jackson star Logan Lerman as their Peter Parker in the Spider-Man reboot. It marks another step in a big change for the Spider-Man franchise. A big change that was spurred on by the failures of Sam Raimi.

We’ve got a handful of DVDs and Blu-rays burning holes in our pockets and want you to be the ones to have them.

Reports are coming in from Nikki Finke and her new man-about-NYC Mike Fleming at Deadline that Spider-Man 4, as we know it now, is dead in the water.

We’re not sure what actor Tobey Maguire was thinking when he woke up this morning, but we’re almost certain that he didn’t expect to be the next big thing on the internet.

Jim Sheridan’s ‘Brothers’ remake is a fine, old-fashioned drama starring Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman and Jake Gyllenhaal. Like many of Sheridan’s other movies, it’s all about family.

In spite of the fact almost nothing was screened for them this week, Kevin and Neil meet in the Magical Studio in the Sky to not talk about movies. Instead, they discuss Kevin being a near body double for Taylor Lautner, Neil’s homoerotic fantasies about Neil Patrick Harris and how to tweet in Klingon. tIv cha’!

Lionsgate has provided us with a brand new clip from Jim Sheridan’s upcoming drama Brothers, a remake of a 2004 Danish film from director Susanne Bier.

Columbia Pictures and the IMAX Corporation are press releasing this morning, letting us know that they will be releasing Spider-Man 4 on May 5, 2011 on the biggest of the big screen formats.

While Spider-Man 4 is still waiting for director Sam Raimi to be ready for action, it’s web-slinging star is moving on to something a little bit more indie — a black comedy called The Details.

What can’t Americans get enough of at the box office? You guessed it… comic books. Yet another comic book is slated to hit the silver screen—this time a sci-fi series aptly titled “Afterburn” from the independent comic book company Red5Comics that depicts a post-apocalyptic world in which part of the atmosphere has been destroyed and much of the population is dead.

Not even alliteration could save Spider-Man 3, but could a Pulitzer Prize winner swing in and save the day for the Spider-Man franchise? Columbia Pictures thinks so.

I know we don’t like thinking about Spider-Man much these days. That third movie truly put a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth. But with that in mind, I think we need to look at some things that could be positive about Spider-Man sequels.

Tobey Maguire will be donning the red, blue, and black suit once again as Spider-Man, except this time, there’s a catch. Spider-Man 4 and 5 will reportedly be shot back-to-back and because of a potentially grueling schedule, Tobey got a clause worked in to benefit being a father.

After the critical debacle that was Spider-Man 3 and the eye-opening masterpiece that is The Dark Knight, does anyone really care to see a fourth Spider-Man movie with the same creative team behind it? How about a fifth?

May 2011, according to producer Laura Ziskin via The LA Times Blog, is the tentative date for the fourth installment in one of the most successful franchises in history.