While most fans already know that filming on ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2′ began on Monday, February 4, (after all, director Marc Webb has been tweeting about it on his Twitter production diary), Columbia has decided to make it official by releasing this press announcement that includes cast names and a synopsis for the sequel:

New York, February 5, 2013 – Columbia Pictures announced today that filming has begun on The Amazing Spider-Man™ 2 in New York. The film is the first in the history of the franchise that will be filmed entirely in New York City and New York State.

The sequel to last year’s critical and box office hit The Amazing Spider-Man, the film stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Shailene Woodley, Dane DeHaan, Colm Feore, Paul Giamatti, and Sally Field.

In The Amazing Spider-Man™ 2, for Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield), life is busy – between taking out the bad guys as Spider-Man and spending time with the person he loves, Gwen (Emma Stone), high school graduation can’t come quickly enough. Peter hasn’t forgotten about the promise he made to Gwen’s father to protect her by staying away – but that’s a promise he just can’t keep. Things will change for Peter when a new villain, Electro (Jamie Foxx), emerges, an old friend, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), returns, and Peter uncovers new clues about his past.

The film is directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay by Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci & Jeff Pinkner, with a previous draft by James Vanderbilt, and based on the Marvel Comic Book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach are the producers.

The film’s key behind-the-scenes team includes director of photography Dan Mindel, production designer Mark Friedberg, editors Pietro Scalia and Elliot Graham, and costume designer Deborah L. Scott.

The latest chapter in the Spider-Man story is set for release in 3D on May 2, 2014.

The press release confirms that Giamatti will indeed play the Rhino, but who will Colm Feore portray?  Will he play the Osborn patriarch who becomes the Green Goblin?

Well, from Webb’s photo that was tweeted yesterday, Oscorp will still be a driving force in this sequel much like in the first film.

Peter Parker’s parents worked at Oscorp as did Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) who ended up morphing into the Lizard. Will ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2′ follow suit and have the Rhino linked to Oscorp in some way? Maybe as an experiment gone bad like Dr. Connors’ fate? Maybe someone hired by Norman Osborn?

If you missed Monday’s pic tweet from Webb, we have it here for you below:

Webb used this image to announce that he will be forgoing filming the sequel digitally and go old-school back to film by using the hashtags #anamorphic and #film. Since it’s been announced that ‘Amazing Spider-Man 2’ will be in 3D, that means there’ll be some post-conversion going on in post-production.

Hopefully Webb will continue to tease fans with an image each day of production. So far he’s two for two! Wonder what he’ll have for fans today?

‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2′ will be filmed entirely in New York and is slated to be in theaters on  May 2, 2014.