A new Spider-Man has been chosen for Sony’s 3D reboot film

Young Andrew Garfield (Red Riding, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Lions for Lambs, Boy A) is the new Spider-Man, according to HeatVisionBlog. Garfield has nabbed the lead in Sony’s reboot of its Spider-Man franchise, which is being helmed by (500) Days of Summer director Marc Webb. The studio will release the film in 3D on July 3, 2012.

The new origin story, which will take a different approach than Sam Raimi’s trilogy that starred Tobey Maguire, begins production in December, from a script by James Vanderbilt, who also penned screenplays for Zodiac and The Losers.

According to the report, Garfield was caught by surprise by the news. The actor was in Cancun as part of a pre-arranged studio film showcase, as an actor in Sony’s upcoming Social Network, when he was called into a suite with Sony Pictures co-chairperson Amy Pascal just before a news conference and told that he had been selected for the role.

The new Spider-Man places Parker back in high school, where he’ll struggle with the knowledge that his uncle died despite his new-found powers. Maguire, Raimi and Sony made the decision at the beginning of the year to restart the story in a scaled-back fashion.