Spider-Man (2002 film)

The film stars Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Cliff Robertson, and Rosemary Harris.He adopts the masked persona "Spider-Man" and begins to fight crime in New York City, facing the malevolent Green Goblin in the process.The film received positive reviews from critics and audiences, who praised Raimi's direction, the story, the performances, visual effects, action sequences, and musical score.Maguire and Dafoe later reprised their roles in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), which explores the concept of the multiverse and links the Raimi trilogy to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.On a high school field trip, Peter Parker visits a Columbia University genetics laboratory with his best friend, Harry Osborn, and his love interest, Mary Jane Watson.Hoping to buy a car to impress Mary Jane, Peter enters an underground wrestling event and wins his first match, but is swindled out of his earnings.J. Jonah Jameson, the publisher of the Daily Bugle newspaper, hires Peter as a freelance photographer, since he can provide high-quality images of Spider-Man.[a][12] Ron Perkins portrays Dr. Mendel Stromm, Norman's head scientist, while Gerry Becker and Jack Betts play the Oscorp board members Maximillian Fargas and Henry Balkan, respectively.[citation needed] Producer Roger Corman was the first to hold an option on the Spider-Man property and began to develop the film at Orion Pictures.Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee was brought on to write a screenplay which featured Cold War themes and Doctor Octopus as the primary antagonist.The project did not come into fruition following budgetary disputes between Corman and Lee, as well as the critical and commercial failure of Superman III (1983) making film adaptations of comic books a low priority.For the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man, the studio considered Tom Cruise while Zito was interested in casting actor and stuntman Scott Leva who had previously done promotional appearances as Spider-Man for Marvel.Following the critical and financial failure of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and Masters of the Universe which were produced by Cannon, the budget for Spider-Man: The Movie was cut to $7 million.Cameron's treatment also featured heavy profanity, and a sex scene between Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson atop the Brooklyn Bridge.However, the release of Blade by New Line Cinema in 1998 and the development of X-Men by 20th Century Fox convinced some studios that a Marvel character "could carry on" a movie.[39] The studio lined up Roland Emmerich, Jan de Bont, Chris Columbus, Barry Sonnenfeld, Tim Burton, Michael Bay, Ang Lee, David Fincher, Tony Scott and M. Night Shyamalan as potential directors.[36] Fincher did not want to depict the origin story as he felt it was "dumb", pitching the film as being based on The Night Gwen Stacy Died storyline, but the studio weren't interested.[50] Raimi's agent Josh Donen warned him that he was not Sony's preferred choice for the job, leading Raimi to cite all his reasons for which he would be the ideal director for the project during a meeting with Pascal, producer Laura Ziskin, Calley, Marvel Studios chief Avi Arad and film executive Matt Tolmach before abruptly ending his pitch after one hour, not wanting to overstay if Sony's executives did not want him.[53] Raimi felt the Green Goblin and the surrogate father-son theme between Norman Osborn and Peter Parker would be more interesting, thus, he dropped Doctor Octopus from the film.[42] As production neared, Ziskin hired award-winning writer Alvin Sargent, to polish the dialogue, primarily between Parker and Mary Jane.[71] Nicolas Cage, Jason Isaacs, John Malkovich and Billy Bob Thornton were considered for the role of Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, but turned it down.[42] Kate Bosworth, Eliza Dushku, Jaime King and Mena Suvari unsuccessfully auditioned for the role of Mary Jane Watson.[59] The project's cinematographer, Don Burgess, shot the film with Panavision Platinum and Millennium XL cameras with Primo Lenes.[108] In Los Angeles, filming locations included the Natural History Museum (for the Columbia University laboratory where Parker is bitten), the Pacific Electricity Building (the Daily Bugle offices) and Greystone Mansion (for the interiors of Norman's home).[138][139] In March 2024, Sony announced that all of its live-action Spider-Man films would be re-released in theaters as part of Columbia Pictures' 100th anniversary celebration.In addition, Spider-Man had the largest opening of any film in the UK with a BBFC certificate higher than a "PG" rating, staying ahead of Independence Day and Hannibal.Bonus features include commentaries, promotional material, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and other information on both the film and the comic books that inspired it.The website's consensus reads: "Not only does Spider-Man provide a good dose of web-swinging fun, it also has a heart, thanks to the combined charms of director Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire."[202] Giving the film two and a half stars out of four, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times criticized the scene in which Peter is given a choice between saving Mary Jane or a cable car full of children."[204] Entertainment Weekly put the upside-down kiss on its 2009 list of the best pop culture creations of the decade, saying: "There's a fine line between romantic and corny.