Quick Takes

Spider-Man could return in May 2011

Peter Parker is swinging back into the multiplex -- but not for a while.

"Spider-Man" producer Laura Ziskin said the fourth installment in the web-slinging superhero series is tentatively scheduled to arrive in May 2011.

In remarks Thursday to theater owners from California and Nevada, Ziskin said there was no finished screenplay, but that she and Sony Pictures were hopeful "Spider-Man 4" could be ready in three years.

The first three movies compose one of the most successful franchises in modern Hollywood history, grossing a combined $2.5 billion worldwide. Neither star Tobey Maguire nor director Sam Raimi is yet committed to work on the next installment. But Sony has paid Marvel to renew its rights.

Before she tackles the next "Spider-Man," Ziskin is producing a one-hour fundraiser for cancer research that will be shown commercial-free on ABC, NBC and CBS on Sept. 5. Ziskin, a cancer survivor, showed the several hundred exhibitors a new theatrical public service announcement directed by David Fincher ("Fight Club") that promotes Ziskin's cancer cause, Stand Up to Cancer up2cancer.org .

-- John Horn

Coldplay single takes top spot

Coldplay has become the first British act in more than a decade to reach the top of Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart with "Viva La Vida," the first single from the group's new album. The single logged 246,000 digital copies sold, which pushed it into the No. 1 slot, according to Billboard.

The album, "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends," was released Tuesday and is also expected to top the national album chart when those figures are finalized next week. The Spice Girls' "Wannabe" was the last single from a British group to hit No. 1, in early 1997.

Coldplay's single unseated Lil Wayne's hit "Lollipop" just as the New Orleans rapper's latest album, "Tha Carter III" shot to No. 1 on the album chart with first-week sales of just more than 1 million copies, the first time that figure has been surpassed in more than three years.

-- Randy Lewis

Weinstein films: screen to stage?

To be the male producer of a Tony-winning play or musical is to wear a penguin suit to a cattle call, as the dozens of folks who typically finance a show gather onstage while only the very top dogs wave the medallion and kvell into the microphone.

Variety reports that after eight years in the herd -- including stage-visiting rights at Radio City Music Hall during last Sunday's Tonys as a minority producer of "August: Osage County" and "Boeing-Boeing," winners for best play and play revival -- Harvey Weinstein and the Weinstein Co. aim to move up in the Broadway pecking order.

"It's time for us to really take the lead" by turning some of the company's film properties into stage musicals, Weinstein told Variety.

The most immediate prospects mentioned are the 2004 movie "Finding Neverland," about "Peter Pan" author J.M. Barrie, and Pink Floyd's "The Wall," which would seek to hopscotch in the footsteps of the Who's "Tommy" from vinyl classic to over-the-top film to stage musical.

-- Mike Boehm

'A Catered Affair' is set to end run

"A Catered Affair" will be closing on Broadway. The Harvey Fierstein-John Bucchino musical, based on the 1956 motion picture written by Gore Vidal and on Paddy Chayefsky's original teleplay, will end at the Walter Kerr Theatre on July 27 after 27 previews and 116 regular performances.

The show, whose original cast recording is now available on the PS Classics label, premiered at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre in October 2007 before its New York run.

It received three 2008 Tony Award nominations, but no wins, for performances by lead actors Tom Wopat and Faith Prince and for Jonathan Tunick's original orchestrations.

-- Lynne Heffley

FINALLY

Kanye West will take another sprint through Los Angeles this summer with a performance on Aug. 31 at the Coliseum as part of the grand finale of the Nike+Human Race.

The 10K race is slated to take place in 25 cities across the world to promote fitness, health and global unity. Performers at races in some of the other locations include Moby, All American Rejects, Fall Out Boy and Kelly Rowland.

Nike+Human Race