Despite the mixed feelings that many fans had over rebooting the Spider-Man franchise so soon, The Amazing Spider-Man ended up being a huge success for Sony this past summer. It is currently the fourth-highest grossing movie of the year both inside and outside the U.S., having made $751 million worldwide. Talk of a sequel has been heating up ever since the movie hit theatres, particularly with so many loose ends waiting to be tied up, however, there was a complication: Marc Webb could not immediately commit to the sequel because he was contractually obligated to direct another film for Fox Searchlight. Fortunately this week it seems like some sort of deal has been reached, because Webb is now reportedly confirmed for The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

According to Variety, Webb has officially signed on to direct The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which already has a release date of May 2, 2014. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone will also return (obviously) along with screenwriter James Vanderbilt, who wrote the first draft of the new script. Sony also hired Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Transformers) to do a rewrite, however.

It’s unclear if Webb will still have to deliver a film for Fox Searchlight, but it seems unlikely that it would happen before he starts production on The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in early 2013. This was part of a deal that came with his directorial debut (500) Days of Summer; he was once attached to direct Age of Rage for the same studio, a movie described as “Children of Men meets Lord of the Flies.” Are you glad to see Marc Webb return for Spidey 2 or were you hoping they would hand the franchise off to someone else?