Mike Fleming from Deadline has reported that director Sam Raimi has walked off Spider-Man 4. Leaving with him, apparently, is every cast member, including Tobey Maguire and John Malkovich, the latter of which we just officially learned today was involved in the film.

Supposedly Sony Pictures was pushing for Raimi to make a 2011 summer release despite the director's dissatisfaction with the script. Unwilling to sacrifice the film's quality to make the date, Raimi decided to leave the project. He reportedly told Sony, "I can't make your date. I can't go forward creatively," at which point he cut his ties with the film.

Sony is now said to be prepping for a full reboot of the franchise. The reboot script is reportedly written by James Vanderbilt, who wrote an early draft of the Spider-Man 4 screenplay.

Though it's unfortunate to see him leave the movie, this is a good and smart move by Raimi. He does the fans a service by refusing to give them a mediocre film, and he does himself a favor by choosing to keep a strong portfolio instead of earning a bucket of cash now. What's scary in all of this, though, is Sony's apparent insistence to release a film on time at all costs -- including the cost of an unsatisfactory script. If the details of this story are correct (I'm sure we will learn more soon), this means we should not expect much from the Spider-Man reboot, as Sony is apparently much more interested in pumping out films than it is in ensuring their artistic integrity.