By JAYSON JACOBY

jjacoby@bakercityherald.com

When Spider-Man leaps back onto the big screen May 4, he’ll weave his web in Baker City.

The Eltrym Theatre, which hasn’t shown a movie since Aug. 11, when city building official Chris Ruddell closed the moviehouse, will re-open May 4.

The city’s lawyers forged a deal with Eltrym owner Rudyard Coltman on Thursday afternoon, after three hours of testimony in the first day of a trial in the lawsuit which Coltman’s attorney, Milo Pope of Baker City, filed last June against the city, Ruddell and then-City Manager Jerry Gillham.

The settlement, the terms of which the city’s attorney, Robert E. Franz Jr. of Springfield, read to Judge Jeff Wallace at the Baker County Courthouse, requires Coltman to install two fire-resistant doors in the Eltrym, build wheelchair-accessible ramps at the two rear exits, and remodel one of the restrooms to accommodate wheelchairs.

But Coltman will not have to install fire sprinklers the lack of which started the Eltrym saga more than three years ago and was among the reasons Ruddell closed the theater last summer.

andquot;I’m happy we were able to reach a resolution,andquot; Coltman said in the hallway outside the courtroom Thursday afternoon. andquot;We’re looking forward to bringing first-run movies to Baker City again.andquot;

The first of those first-run movies is andquot;Spider-Man 3.andquot;

The film, which opens nationwide on May 4, is just one of several probable blockbusters in what Coltman said could be the biggest-grossing summer in American movie history.

Two other prominent movies opening in May are andquot;Shrek 3andquot; (May 18) and the third installment in the andquot;Pirates of the Caribbeanandquot; series (May 25).

andquot;We’re proud to bring a very safe movie operation to the public, and we’re glad the agreement recognizes the safety of the building,andquot; Coltman said.