Marvel, SPT to Produce More Episodes of New Spiderman TV Series

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK, September 10: Marvel Studios and Sony
Pictures Television (SPT) have given the greenlight to Culver Entertainment, a
SPT subsidiary, to produce an additional 13 half-hour episodes of the new The
Spectacular Spider-Man animated television
series, bringing the current series run to 26 episodes.

The initial 13 episodes will premiere in early 2008 on the
Saturday morning kids programming block Kids’ WB! on The CW network. The new animated series picks up at the beginning
of Spiderman’s journey as a not-so-typical 16-year-old named Peter Parker who
is entering his junior year of high school. Parker must conceal his secret
identity as a superhero, confront the multi-leveled pressures of teenage life
at home and school, and all the while, combat even bigger Super Villains. Greg
Weisman (Gargoyles, The Batman)
is the supervising producer, along with Victor Cook (Hellboy: Blood
and Iron and Buzz Lightyear of
Star Command), who serves as
producer/supervising director.

Spider-Man Merchandising, L.P., the limited partnership
comprised of Marvel Entertainment and Sony Pictures Consumer Products, will
oversee the licensing and merchandising activities for Columbia Pictures' Spider-Man feature films and animated series based on the
Marvel character. The entity is currently in discussions with industry leaders
in most major product categories, as well as with key retailers, as it builds
the merchandising and promotional strategy to introduce the new Spider-Man brand into the marketplace.

“The launch of the
new Spider-Man animated series is
part of an aggressive strategy to continue to meet fans’ nearly insatiable
demand for our world renowned webslinger,” said Eric Rollman for Spider-Man
Merchandising, L.P. “The expanded commitment to the animated series will enable
us to really support this exciting new Spider-Man iteration with a multi-tiered consumer products and
promotional program that will bring potential licensees and retail partners a
fresh and exciting new way to bring this ever-popular superhero into the
marketplace.”