L to R: Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner

The team of Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Jeff Pinkner will not only write Amazing Spider-Man 3, currently scheduled for release on June 10, 2016, but also Amazing Spider-Man 4, scheduled for May 4, 2018. As The Hollywood Reporter exclusively revealed, this deal was made well before the release of Amazing Spider-Man 2 on May 2, 2014 when audiences will have their first chance to see how the writing trio handles Spider-Man.

Such an early announcement could indicate confidence on Sony’s part, compounded by the fact that they hired Kurtzman and Orci for Amazing Spider-Man 2 before 2012’s Amazing Spider-Man hit theaters. Alternatively, it could just be a desire to keep putting out Spider-Man movies so the rights do not revert to Marvel and Disney.

Audiences seem to have mixed reactions to Kurtzman and Orci as writers. On the one hand, people have swarmed to see both movies in the Star Trek reboot, but not even a year since the release of Star Trek Into Darkness a poll of Star Trek fans voted it the worst film in the franchise. Similarly, Michael Bay’s Transformers trilogy, all written by Kurtzman and Orci, each opened at number 1 at the box office despite mostly negative reviews.

Amazing Spider-Man 2 will be Pinkner’s debut as a film writer, though he has worked with Kurtzman and Orci on the TV shows Fringe and Alias.