User blog comment:Milomilk/Why is Sony making a different Spider-Man movie series?/@comment-238662-20111108113735

They wanted a fresh take on the character and weren't happy with Sam Raimi's direction for the fourth film. Sam Raimi wasn't happy either after losing some creative control over 3 and being forced to include Venom. Raimi left but Sony still wanted to release a Spider-Man film so rebooted it.