While the troubled Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark tries to get back on track in the wake of all of the calamities that have befallen the production, things are moving ahead nicely on the set of the new Spider-Man reboot film. As you may recall, in early December we got our first look at the first photos from the set of the new Spider-Man film when we saw photos of Emma Stone in character as Gwen Stacy. Today we get our first look at lead actor Andrew Garfield (of The Social Network) in character as Peter Parker.

So how is this for PERFECT CASTING … a new report out this weekend by Deadline Hollywood claims that Emma Stone, who has been getting rave reviews for her new film Easy A and is currently filming the big screen adaptation of Kathryn Stockett‘s novel The Help, has been offered the role of Mary Jane Watson in the upcoming rebooted Spider-Man film franchise. As you may recall, we learned back in July that Andrew Garfield (who can currently be seen in the AMAZING David Fincher film The Social Network) has been cast as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and it seems like Spidey‘s main squeeze has been found:

Sony Pictures Entertainment will imminently offer the role of Mary Jane Watson to Emma Stone, who starred for the studio in Zombieland and Easy A. It’s another good role for Stone, who is currently shooting the Tate Taylor-directed adaptation of the Kathryn Stockett bestseller The Help for DreamWorks … That leaves the four other actresses … (with the possibility they could widen the search) for the role of Gwen Stacy. Those contenders are Glee’s Dianna Agron, Mia Wasikowska, Georgina Haig and Dominique McElligott. Stacy … is a plum part for the first installment of the 3D Marc Webb-directed reboot of Spider-Man, because she is the first love interest of the high school-aged Peter Parker, played by Andrew Garfield. Mary Jane … becomes more pivotal in the later installments of the Spidey saga.

I honestly cannot think of a more perfect actress to play Mary Jane in this reboot. Kirsten Dunst played a pretty good Mary Jane in the first round of films but I think Emma Stone will be better. She is so talented, that’s a given, but she also has the look down perfectly. And despite the fact that Gwen Stacy is Peter Parker‘s first love, we all know that Mary Jane Watson is his ultimate true and lasting love. I have to say I’m quite impressed with the casting of the new Spider-Man thus far … with Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone as the eventual main leads, I think the new Spider-Man films might actually turn out a’ight. What do y’all think of this casting … is it perfect or what? If not, who would YOU like to see get the role of Mary Jane Watson?

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Back in January we learned that plans for Spider-Man IV had been canned because the studio decided that it would be too expensive to pay all the inflated salaries of the franchise’s principal actors — Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst — and original director Sam Raimi. The studio soon thereafter decided to reboot the entire franchise and make a new set of films with an entirely different, younger and cheaper cast and director. In April it was announced that director Marc Webb had been hired to direct the new Spider-Man films and just yesterday it was announced that British actor Andrew Garfield has been cast to play Peter Parker/Spider-Man:

Sony Pictures has found its new Peter Parker: British heartthrob Andrew Garfield. The studio announced Thursday afternoon that it had cast the 26-year-old star of the upcoming “Never Let Me Go” and “The Social Network” in one of the most closely scrutinized casting decisions in recent Hollywood history. Garfield also starred in “Lions for Lambs,” “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” and the acclaimed British miniseries “Red Riding.” The fourth film in the series is planned to be a “Spider-Man” origin story that Sony earlier in the year said would focus on “a teenager grappling with both contemporary human problems and amazing super-human crises.” Sony, worried that a fourth film with original director Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire would be too costly, decided to scale back and reboot the series. The studio hired Marc Webb, the director of “(500) Days of Summer,” to helm the project. It is due in theaters July 12, 2012. “From the first time we saw him in the upcoming film ‘The Social Network,’ to his glorious screen test, which floored all of us, we knew that we had found our new Peter Parker,” Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures, said in a statement. Among those said to be considered for the part were Josh Hutcherson (“The Kids are All Right”), Aaron Johnson (“Kick-Ass”), Anton Yelchin (“Star Trek”) and Jamie Bell (“Billy Elliot”).

I have never seen Garfield in any of his films/TV shows but I do hear he was fantastic in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and I am very interested in seeing his performance in The Social Network (which just yesterday became a must-see film for me). While I think he will make a great Spider-Man, I really think it is FAR too soon for Sony Pictures to be making a new set of Spider-Man films. It’s possible these new films will be as successful as the first films but does the world really need an entirely new Spider-Man franchise already? I wish Andrew Garfield all the luck in the world … I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens. I know I’m not all the excited for new Spider-Man films, are you?

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Macy’s Department Store hosted their 83rd annual Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC, NY today and, as usual, the big inflated balloons that made their way down (well, over) the streets of New York were the main attraction. Here are a few photos of some of the big character balloons that were included in today’s parade and read a fun piece on how the balloons themselves have become a NYC tradition of their own:

The tradition that is Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has spun off its own tradition — on Thanksgiving eve, New Yorkers and tourists alike gather on the Upper West Side of New York City to watch their favorite characters come to life in the forms of giant balloons. On Wednesday, cartoon balloon characters were inflated in a public ceremony before their televised march down Seventh Avenue Thursday morning in the 83rd annual Macy’s parade. The balloon line-up includes returning favorites such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Spiderman and Kermit the Frog. The only balloon newcomer this year is the Pillsbury Doughboy. Each year, in a tradition that began when Felix the Cat became the first Macy’s parade balloon in 1927, all balloons are pre-inflated outside the museum, and are held down with nets and sandbags during the night before the parade. Every balloon is the product of months of design and testing by the self-named “Balloonatics,” who work in the Macy’s Parade Studio to turn pencil sketches into ready-for-flight balloons. Sketches become giant clay sculptures the exact size of the parade balloon, and polyurethane fabrics are cut based on the sculptures, then heat-sealed to make the balloon. Several indoor and outdoor tests are conducted with the balloons by hundreds of balloon handlers, to make sure each balloon can make its flight safely and intact. The four main giants of Thursday’s parade will be Sailor Mickey, Ronald McDonald, Spiderman and the Pillsbury Doughboy. Other notable appearances include a 53.5-foot high Pikachu whose cheeks will emit a rosy glow, and Flying Ace Snoopy which will be making its record 34th appearance in the Thanksgiving Parade. The 31 balloons that will be featured on Thursday were inflated Wednesday and on public display in a five-block radius around New York’s American Museum of Natural History, from 81st to 77th streets between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue. Macy’s workers used hoses to fill each character with helium, section by section, in a careful, time-consuming process. The inflation ceremony attracted a throng of onlookers who were ushered around the netted balloons as they were inflated in preparation for Thursday’s parade.

I’ve never been able to see the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in person but I have seen it many, many times on TV when I was a kid. I don’t know why but I still love seeing these balloons in the parade … I guess they speak to the kid in me. I’m very happy to see that Pikachu from Pokémon is still included in the parade all these years after the manic fad has died down here in the US. As far as traditions go, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons are one of my faves. Which of the Macy’s balloons are your faves?

[Photo credit: Getty; Source]