Spider-man 4 is on hold indefinitely not because of  finances or because of some writers strike. Because of a rejected screenplay. According to sources director Sam Raimi  is not happy with the script and is delaying the project until he is satisfied. A big problem with it seems is the villain that was penned in. The studio wants Black Cat and others and Raimi wants the Vulture. No word on who is going to get the last word on that.  I am betting they are going to pen in both somehow into a story that satisfies everyone involved. You can get a good idea on how real this disagreement is on this project by the email that was sent out telling personnel working on this film to seek work elsewhere while they sort this out. Letter is as follows.

“We were just notified that our schedule is pushing. We will NOT be starting as planned. I’m terribly sorry for this news, and I hope this email reaches you in time to find other options. We do not know how long we are pushing, and we will not know until mid-January. By mid-January, we will be told how long the push is, whether it be 2 weeks, 2 months, or something else. The studio has every intention of making the movie, but we no longer have a confirmed start date. Again, I’m terribly sorry, but Sam Raimi has story issues [that] need to be resolved before we are ready to shoot.”

You really do not have to be a rocket scientist to see that this may take some time and there is little chance that they will meet the release date that was set. Expect this film if it is release to be somewhere late 2011 to 2012. Well that is what my Spidey sense is telling me anyway.