In March 2004, with "Spider-Man 2" being released the coming June, Sony announced that "Spider-Man 3" was already in development for a release in summer 2007. By the release of "Spider-Man 2", a release date for "Spider-Man 3" had been set for May 2, 2007 before production on the sequel had begun. The date was later changed to May 4, 2007. In January 2005, Sony Pictures completed a seven-figure deal with screenwriter Alvin Sargent, who had penned "Spider-Man 2", to script "Spider-Man 3" with an option to script a fourth film.