Sony has, as expected, moved quickly to fill the gap left by director Sam Raimi's departure from the Spider-Man franchise last week, with the confirmation that it's now found its helmer for the series' forthcoming reboot.

The man in question? It's Mr Marc Webb, who has been strongly linked with the job for the past week anyway. Webb directed last year's surprise package (500) Days Of Summer, a film that demonstrated how well he could direct younger actors. Given that the plans for the new Spider-Man film are for another origins story, with more emphasis on Peter Parker in high school, Webb, it seems, shot fairly quickly to the top of the list.

The official statement from Sony Pictures Entertainment chiefs Amy Pascal and Matt Tolmach says that "At its core, Spider-Man is a small, intimate human story about an everyday teenager that takes place in an epic super-human world. The key for us as we sought a new director was to identify filmmakers who could give sharp focus to Peter Parker's life. We wanted someone who could capture the awe of being in Peter's shoes so the audience could experience his sense of discovery while giving real heart to the emotion, anxiety, and recklessness of that age and coupling all of that with the adrenaline of Spider-Man's adventure. We believe Marc Webb is the perfect choice to bring us on that journey."

There are reports that Webb has signed on to direct a new trilogy, but that doesn't appear to be the case. Instead, Webb has done a deal for one film, with sequel clauses in his contract. Deadline Hollywood has more on this here.

The formal appointment of Webb does slightly increase the chances of his (500) Days Of Summer star Joseph Gordon-Levitt taking the lead role, we'd suspect, although we're not expecting a formal Spider-Man casting announcement just yet.

Production begins on the new Spider-Man later this year, ahead of a release in summer 2012.