As news broke yesterday that Sam Raimi had pulled out of Spider-Man 4 over disagreements about which villain to use and whether to shoot the film in 3D, half the directors in Hollywood called their agents. It’s not every day that the top spot on one of the biggest movie franchises in history becomes available. Though the post will probably be filled with someone completely off our radar (who would’ve guessed Christopher Nolan to restart Batman, Rob Marshall to take over Pirates of the Caribbean or Louis Leterrier to helm The Incredible Hulk?), here are some of the names we here at SPJ batted around.

Neill Blomkamp
Probably the most likely contender at this point. He just made a ton of money for Sony with District 9 and has a mastery of visual effects and a handle on character development, but doesn’t have so much success yet that he’d come with the difficult artist baggage that studios loathe. He never lined anything up right on the heels of District 9‘s success, seemingly waiting for a project like this.

James Cameron
The most in-demand director alive just finished the project that occupied his time for a decade. Spider-Man was always the one that got away for Cameron; try as he might, he could never untangle the legal knots tied around the character in the early 90′s. He’s got the top two slots on the list of the biggest money-makers in movie history, and this would be a safe bet for #3. That being said, there probably isn’t a chance in hell this will happen. Cameron enjoys all the money and creative freedom in the world on his projects, so it’s doubtful that he’ll give that up to be the hired gun on a movie that has a release date a year and a half away. Not to mention that he may very well be developing a film about the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

David Fincher
Fincher was in the running to direct the first Spider-Man but lost out to Raimi, mostly because his calling cards at the time were the sadistic Seven and the anarchist Fight Club. His range has broadened considerably since then, with the classicist Zodiac and Benjamin Button under his belt. Fincher seems interested in taking on unexpected projects (he’s currently making a movie about Facebook with Justin Timberlake), worked with Vanderbilt before, and has a good relationship with Sony, so he might be a possibility.

Edgar Wright
There isn’t a director working today who pairs technical chops with humor better than Edgar Wright, and advance word on his upcoming Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is phenomenal. He’s even flirted with a Marvel adaptation in the past with Ant Man. He’s got a full slate, but might clear it for a project this big. If Sony doesn’t mind hiring a guy known primarily for comedy for their big moneybags franchise, Wright would be a great choice.

Peter Jackson
Another swinging for the rafters pick, to be sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s being batted around. Jackson tackled one of the most difficult projects ever with the Lord of the Rings trilogy and made it into one of the biggest critical and commercial successes in cinematic history. His next two films haven’t been nearly as successful, though. King Kong was hyped as the next Titanic, but ended up a modest hit with a mixed reception. The Lovely Bones was hyped as Jackson’s return to smaller scale filmmaking like Heavenly Creatures, but ended up with a crippled release schedule and even worse reviews than King Kong. Jackson is still one of the best filmmakers alive, but he needs projects that suit his oddball tastes. The lovable outsider subject matter of Spider-Man might be a great fit, and the tone he carved out with his fun-but-scary The Frighteners would work perfectly with Peter Parker at its core. On the other hand, he might have his hands full with the Tintin anthology he’s launching with Steven Spielberg.

Alfonso Cuarón
Though he’s flirted with the mainstream before, Cuarón is bit of a rogue who probably wouldn’t take well to the studio pressure he’d face at the helm of a Spider-Man movie, and he’d likely have zero interest in continuing past a single film given his experience with the Harry Potter franchise. Sony is looking for a long-term investment.

Guillermo Del Toro
We’d all love it if Del Toro took the reins on Spider-Man, especially since he’s worked wonders with Hellboy. But two words dash all our dreams: The Hobbit. We’ll be lucky to see anything Tolkien-unrelated from him this decade, much less by 2012.

Timur Bekmambetov
He’s got a big domestic hit under his belt with Wanted and an international hit with the Night Watch series. Still, he’s very rough around the edges, and none of those films have the polish Sony is likely looking for with Mr. All-American Peter Parker.

Bryan Singer/Brett Ratner/McG/Marc Forster
The usual suspects (har har) when it comes to big budget placeholders. Doubtful any of them will get the job though: Singer’s about to start X-Men: First Class, Ratner’s star has dimmed considerably, McG just single-handedly killed the Terminator franchise with an attempted reboot, and Marc Forster left a bad taste in Sony’s mouth with the middling Quantum of Solace.

Quentin Tarantino
Let’s get nuts here. Sure, there’s no way Sony would hire the director of Kill Bill for Spider-Man 4. Even if they’d hire him, he’s probably working on a blaxploitation western or something. But looking at what Quentin was able to do with a genre as stale as the WWII movie with Inglourious Basterds makes his take on a comic book movie sound incredible. Plus, he’d probably do some really great stunt casting. Samuel L. Jackson for Kingpin?

Who do you think should helm the Spider-Man franchise, SPJ readers?