James Franco: 'I'm okay with new Spider-Man'

James Franco has said that he has no issues with the Spider-Man series getting rebooted, less than a decade after the Tobey Maguire original.

The Rise of the Planet of the Apes star, who portrayed Harry Osborn in the three Sam Raimi blockbusters, admitted that he found Hollywood's abundance of prequels and remakes "a weird phenomenon".

"I guess there's the tradition of the theatre where everybody would do their version of Hamlet and everybody would do their King Lear and that kind of thing," he said.

"It's a little different with movies because people like to think that films last forever, but within just 10 years you already have a new Spider-Man franchise. It's weird what that might do to the original Spider-Man films..."

Asked how he felt about Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone's The Amazing Spider-Man, Franco said: "I had a great time on the Spider-Man films and Tobey, Kirsten [Dunst] and Sam Raimi have all become lifelong friends.

"My role in those films was not my favourite but I'm okay with the new one. The thing is, the technology is advancing so fast that often the new renditions sell themselves as having the cutting-edge technology. What early versions couldn't do even five or 10 years ago, these ones can - whether that's exciting new effects or whatever.

"Sometimes it's about the new actors, but if you think about the first Batman films, those performances are great. You'll always remember Jack Nicholson as The Joker regardless of what new technology comes along."

The Amazing Spider-Man is due for release in July 2012.

> 'The Amazing Spider-Man' in pictures

Watch James Franco in the Rise of the Planet of the Apes trailer below: