Sony Pictures
SPIDER-MAN
Starring Tobey Maguire (Peter Parker / Spider-Man), Willem Dafoe (Norman Osborn / The Green Goblin), Kirsten Dunst (Mary Jane Watson), James Franco (Harry Osborn), Cliff Robertson (Uncle Ben), Rosemary Harris (Aunt May), and JK Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson) with a special appearance by Stan Lee
Directed by Sam Raimi
Produced by Laura Ziskin and Ian Bryce in association with Marvel Studios
Written by David Koepp
Music by Danny Elfman
Distributed by Sony Pictures
Run Time: 2 hours and 1 minute
World Premier: April 29, 2002, in Los Angeles, California
Opening Weekend Box Office: $114 million (North America)
Worldwide Box Office: $825 million
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
Sony Pictures
Fun Spider-Man Facts
Sony Pictures acquired the film and licensing rights to Spider-Man in the Spring of 1999, along with all Marvel characters that had their origins in Spider-Man comic book stories, including Spider-Man’s acclaimed rogue’s gallery. Marvel sold these rights in an effort to stay amidst potential bankruptcy. Under the arrangement, Marvel Studios would assist Sony in a production role that would give them a say in the script-writing process, the hiring of directors, and in casting. Spider-Man commenced filming on January 8, 2001, and lasted until October 28, 2001. 2002, the year of Spider-Man’s release, marked the 40th Anniversary of Spider-Man, who debuted as a Marvel character in 1962’s Amazing Fantasy #15, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
Spider-Man was the fourth film produced by the upstart Marvel Studios under Avi Arad, following 1998’s Blade (New Line Cinema), 2000’s X-Men (Fox), and 2002’s Blade II (New Line Cinema). Though each of those films were hits in their own respective ways, it was Spider-Man that kicked the door wide open and ushered in the Marvel age in Hollywood, making more at the worldwide box office than Blade, X-Men, and Blade II combined, and becoming the first motion picture to ever gross $100 million during its opening weekend at the North American box office. Future Marvel Studios President and Marvel CCO Kevin Feige was part of the Marvel Studios team that worked on this film.
Spider-Man was the first film to boast the flipping pages Marvel logo that became synonymous with Marvel Studios productions for several years.
Reportedly, the idea of a Shared Cinematic Universe was first tossed around 20-years ago, and nearly teased in this Spider-Man film! Hugh Jackman, who portrayed Wolverine in 2000’s X-Men, was penciled-in for a cameo, and even visited the Spider-Man set to shoot a scene as Wolverine, but the entire idea was scrapped due to the Spider-Man crew being unable to obtain the costume that Jackman wore in X-Men. As it stood, fans would have to wait six more years for the Shared Universe concept to take hold.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Heath Ledger, and Freddie Prinze Jr were among those considered for the role of Peter Parker before Tobey Maguire was cast. James Franco actually auditioned for the role but was cast as Harry Osborn instead. Wes Bentley (who went on to portray Blackheart in 2007’s Ghost Rider) was a fan-favorite choice for the role at the time.
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Tara Reid and Kate Hudson were among those considered for the role of Mary Jane Watson before Kirsten Dunst was cast. Elizabeth Banks actually auditioned for the role but was cast as Betty Brant instead. Eliza Dushku also auditioned. Kirsten Dunst was only 19-years old at the time Spider-Man was filmed.
Robert De Niro, Mel Gibson, and John Travolta all reportedly turned down the role of Norman Osborn in Spider-Man, while Nicolas Cage and John Malkovich were both considered. Billy Crudup was in-line for the part, but it was decided that he was too young for the role, which led Sam Raimi to turn to Bill Paxton, but Willem Dafoe ultimately won the filmmakers over. John Travolta would go on to portray Howard Saint in 2004’s The Punisher and Nicolas Cage would go on to portray Johnny Blaze in 2007’s Ghost Rider and 2012’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.
In Spider-Man, Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane Watson lives next door to Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker. In the comics, MJ is traditionally the niece of the Parker’s neighbor Anna Watson, who frequently visited her aunt, who was also May Parker’s best friend. Regardless, Peter does not actually meet MJ until they both start college, and even then, becomes romantically involved with classmate Gwen Stacy instead of Mary Jane. MJ being Peter’s neighbor and first love does have roots in comic book lore however, as this was the case in Marvel’s Ultimate Universe.
In Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker boasts organic webbing that allows him to shoot webs. This idea actually came from director James Cameron when he was trying to get a Spider-Man film off the ground years earlier. In the Marvel comics, Peter Parker traditionally creates web fluid and web-shooters himself. This change would eventually make its way to the comics during the 2005-2006 storyline The Other.
Spider-Man featured Stan Lee’s second cameo for Marvel Studios after appearing in 2000’s X-Men. Lee actually auditioned for the role of J. Jonah Jameson, but the part went to JK Simmons, whom Lee later praised unabashedly for the remarkable way he brought the character to life.
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The original design of The Green Goblin was closer to his traditional appearance in the comics. Willem Dafoe was to wear a prosthetic mask, complete with green skin, a pointed chin and ears, fangs, and yellow pupil-less eyes. Following a series of screen test, this look was deemed too frightening for the film, which led to the suit of armor approach.
In Spider-Man, the spider that bites Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker was an actual living spider, not a CGI creation. The spider (classified as a “steatoda grossa”) was trained and painted for its scene.
At the time of its release, Spider-Man was the highest-grossing comic book movie of all-time and emerged as the third highest-grossing film of 2002.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
On September 6, 2005, Marvel Enterprises became Marvel Entertainment; a reflection of the company’s new initiative to finance its own motion pictures through Marvel Studios. Two Spider-Man films had been made by Sony and Marvel Entertainment at the time of the announcement: 2002’s Spider-Man and 2004’s Spider-Man 2. A third film (Spider-Man 3) was already in active development at the time of this announcement. Marvel Studios would work in conjunction with Sony on Spider-Man 3, honoring the terms of their initial agreement, and Spider-Man 3 would be released in the Spring of 2007. In the meantime, Kevin Feige (Spring of 2007) would be promoted to President of Marvel Studios and production on Marvel Studios’ first independent film Iron Man (starring Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark and introducing Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury) would commence just prior to the release of Spider-Man 3.
Beyond Spider-Man 3, the working agreement between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures as it had once been ceased to exist as the Marvel Studios team concentrated on the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe while Sony’s team did their own thing. Former Marvel Studios President and co-founder Avi Arad (who announced his formal resignation from Marvel Studios in the Spring of 2006) remained a part of Sony’s team, and a decision was made to reboot the franchise, culminating in the release of The Amazing Spider-Man (starring Andrew Garfield) in 2012.
On February 9, 2015, following a crippling e-mail hack and the critical failure of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures reached an agreement to bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with 2016’s Captain America: Civil War after which Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures would co-produce a new Spider-Man film, which would serve as another reboot. In the Summer of 2015, Tom Holland was cast to portray Peter Parker / Spider-Man within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
From 2016-2019, Tom Holland appeared as Peter Parker / Spider-Man in 5 Marvel Studios / Sony Pictures projects including Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark / Iron Man co-starred in Spider-Man: Homecoming while Samuel L. Jackson appeared in Spider-Man: Far From Home in what was sort of a reprisal of his role as Nick Fury.
In the 2019 Marvel Studios film Spider-Man: No Way Home, JK Simmons was cast to portray J. Jonah Jameson within the MCU 616-Universe. This version of Jameson was exclusive to the MCU 616-Universe, portraying what amounted to a Variant of the version of JJJ that appeared in all three of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films.
In the 2021 Marvel Studios / Sony Pictures co-production Spider-Man: No Way Home, Marvel Studios’ yet-to-be titled Multiverse Saga was kicked into high gear when the events of that film saw Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man enter the MCU 19-years removed from the 2002 Spider-Man film. Maguire’s Parker was brought into the MCU’s 616-Universe due to a Multiversal breach triggered by an errant magical spell that was cast by Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Stephen Strange, which involved Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. The botched spell allowed Willem Dafoe’s Norman Osborn / The Green Goblin to crossover into the MCU 616-Universe as well and Spider-Man: No Way Home made all three of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films MCU canon via the Multiverse.
Sony Pictures
My Spider-Man Review
Flashback 20-years, and the release of Spider-Man came at a time when DC Comics had been the predominant comic book property in Hollywood, with their Superman and Batman characters having a significant box office presence that dated back to 1978. Both of the most recent installments in those respective franchises (Superman: The Quest for Peace and Batman and Robin) had been busts however, opening the door for Marvel Studios to establish itself within the genre after years of Marvel characters being relegated to the sidelines. With the successes of Blade and X-Men following the founding of Marvel Studios, Marvel characters were making big waves all of the sudden, and a lot of people were taking notice.
Both Spider-Man and The X-Men meant big things for Marvel during the 1990’s. Both had successful animated series’ based on their respective mythologies, but Spider-Man reigned as Marvel’s most popular individual character by a significant margin, and that meant that the first Spider-Man movie had a lot riding on it! Everyone involved had very high hopes for Spider-Man, and in so many ways, the release of Spider-Man was a celebration of Marvel’s heritage, and a sort of mission statement by the new faces of the company; men like Joe Quesada and Avi Arad and more quietly, Ike Perlmutter; men whose visions had helped the company rise from the ashes of bankruptcy like a phoenix!
Following theatrical projects that were centered around talking ducks, vampires, and mutants, Spider-Man was the first Marvel feature film that looked and felt like a superhero movie, and to their credit, the filmmakers held nothing back toward the goal of making Spider-Man the greatest comic book movie of all-time, carefully organizing a script that more often than not stayed true to its source material, casting actors and actresses that would bring the comic book characters to life in the most spectacular ways possible, and launching a fierce marketing campaign that had people everywhere anxious to see the Wall-Crawler’s theatrical debut!
I was one of those people, for Spider-Man was one of my favorite superhero characters growing up. I’ve always found Peter Parker easy to relate to. He’s not the best-looking guy and he’s not the most popular guy and then the whole Uncle Ben thing makes him a character that is forced to deal with death and loss from an early age (something I went through with the loss of my father at the age of 14), and the way he lives his life trying to live up to his late uncle’s expectations for him is something I think anyone that loses a parental figure deals with. Then on the exterior, Spider-Man is just a cool superhero! He has a great look and who wouldn’t love to climb walls and swing from webs or to possess superhuman strength that could be used to stop bad people from doing bad things?!? Spider-Man more so than any other prominent superhero is a real guy with real problems. He’s not an alien. He’s not a millionaire. He’s just a guy – and a kid at that.
As a film, Spider-Man had a perfect tone and its color scheme and dialogue, and costumes all combined to make Spider-Man feel like a Marvel comic book come to life! I think seeing Spider-Man move across the rooftops of New York City, shooting his webs and climbing walls was as cool for Marvel fans at the time as it had been for DC fans the first time that they saw Superman fly in 1978, or Batman emerge from the shadows in 1989. It was special, and the effects were realistic and believable, and undeniably amazing!
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I thought all of the casting choices bordered on perfection! The most important role was that of Peter Parker, and if I’m being honest, I’ll admit that I thought Tobey Maguire was just okay as Spider-Man, but he was a great Peter Parker! His demeanor, timidness, and politeness were all crafted together well to make him a great protagonist. Even when Tobey’s Peter is doing things that would easily be perceived as wrong by most observers, it’s difficult to root against him. As a viewer, you want Peter to beat up Flash Thompson at school, and you want Peter to stick-it to that sleazy wrestling promoter. You just want this poor, nerdy kid to win, and that is a testament to Tobey Maguire’s performance. I will also say, that while he is not my favorite Spider-Man 20-years later, I do have to take my hat off to Tobey for the acting job that he did as Spider-Man. Superhero movies were not then what they are today, and there wasn’t all that much of a blueprint for playing such a prominent character and having to wear a mask while doing so. Superman doesn’t wear a mask. Batman’s mask has eye holes and an open mouth / chin area. The X-Men didn’t wear masks in their movie either. This was largely new ground back in 2002, and Tobey Maguire had to rely a lot on body language to make the scenes work that he was Spider-Man in, and he did a great job in that area! This movie would have never worked had Tobey dropped the ball.
I really liked Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson. She had to juggle being desired and confident without coming across as arrogant and snobby, and I think she accomplished that. Her chemistry with Tobey was magical and it was their chemistry that really put the movie over the top from being good to great for me. Again, as a viewer, I wanted Peter to get the girl, and I wanted MJ to fall for Peter and to see him for the hero he really was. The upside-down kiss in the rain between MJ and Spider-Man remains one of Spidey’s most defining moments to this day, and it perfectly set-up the movie’s ending in a very clever way.
Spider-Man’s origin story is one of the best in all of comics, and he boasts what is probably the best rogue’s gallery in all of Marvel. His greatest enemy is traditionally The Green Goblin though, and I thought the Goblin was the perfect character to oppose Spider-Man in his first film. One of the things that works best about the Peter Parker / Norman Osborn dynamic is the fact that Peter is just a kid, and Norman is a successful adult. Matching an innocent kid up against a murderous adult makes for a terrifying scenario, and the Peter / Norman dynamic is strengthened by the fact that Norman is initially enamored with Peter’s intelligence and ambition. Peter is in a lot of ways the son that Norman wishes he had, and that makes for all kinds of drama even before Peter is bitten by the radioactive spider that gives him powers.
Willem Dafoe was a fantastic casting decision in the role of Norman Osborn! No, I was not a fan then or now of the armored suit and whatnot, but I understand why they did it at the time and it really only bothered me as badly as it did, because of my feeling that covering Willem Dafoe’s face was a terrible mistake! I mean this in the most flattering way possible, but the man just looks like a Goblin! He has such a unique face and an uncanny ability to emit a variety of emotions ranging from benevolence to pure evil. I always felt the scenes between Spider-Man and The Goblin would have been all the more effective if we could have seen Willem Dafoe act them out, and I feel like Marvel Studios’ 2021 film Spider-Man: No Way Home proved that point. Anyway, Dafoe was great in this film, delivering an iconic performance within the genre that he would somehow, someway top 20-years later!
Another member of Spider-Man’s rogue’s gallery is J. Jonah Jameson. No, JJJ is not a supervillain, but he is a constant and persistent thorn in Peter Parker’s side, who loathes Spider-Man and all that he stands for. Even in 2002, Jameson was a dated character due to the back seat the printed press has taken to the internet, and the entire Daily Bugle concept is even more dated today due to the way the media now operates, but JK Simmons was pure gold as Jameson! Watching him berate his staff and talk-down to Peter Parker while bashing Spider-Man was an absolute joy, because Simmons brought that character to life from off the pages of the comics to film perfectly! His look, his attitude, and his voice all were perfect, and I always point to this film as my favorite JJJ moment from any Spider-Man movie, and that’s when The Goblin comes to The Bugle searching for Peter Parker, and Jameson refuses to give Peter up. At his core, JJJ is a good person, he just hates superheroes; specifically, Spider-Man, and I think Jonah is my favorite part of this film above all else.
Sony Pictures
I have several favorite scenes from Spider-Man, but my favorite has to be the Thanksgiving dinner scene because it was just done so well by all involved, particularly Tobey Maguire and Willem Dafoe. Watching Osborn slowly deduce that Peter is Spider-Man makes for a very intriguing scene, even though it would be topped years later in a scene between Tom Holland and Michael Keaton in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
I also really enjoy the first fight between Spider-Man and The Goblin at the festival parade. That whole scene was just so exciting, so colorful, and so captivating, but really, all of the fights in this film were pretty spectacular with revolutionary slow-motion camera shots utilized to make the shots of the exploding pumpkin bombs all the more epic, and I loved the end to the final showdown between Peter and The Goblin in which Osborn gets impaled by his own glider; a scene ripped straight out of the comics!
There is not one particular scene that I don’t like in Spider-Man. The movie is exceptionally well-paced, does not contradict itself, and never shies away from being what it is: the origin story of a superhero. It’s bright, funny, filled with action and elaborate costumes, and has the right heart and drama in the places that it needs to. In short, Spider-Man was everything it was supposed to be!
On a personal note, Spider-Man was the first superhero that my little boy fell in love with in 2011 between the ages of two and three, and this movie in particular was one that he just could not get enough of! We watched it many, many times together and his third birthday party was Spider-Man themed, complete with a visit from Spider-Man himself (thanks Uncle Matthew)! My daughter had a visit from Spider-Man at her third birthday party as well, and at the end of 2011, my wife and I took our children to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida for the first time where my 3-year-old little boy got to meet Spider-Man again! It is a favorite vacation spot for our family to this day.
That being said, I really don’t have the words to express how cool it was to have raised my children and shared in the many joys that superheroes and comic book stories and characters offer, and then to a decade later be sitting together with both of them in a theater and watching Spider-Man: No Way Home and getting to see Tobey Maguire back as Peter Parker / Spider-Man and Willem Dafoe back as Norman Osborn / The Green Goblin alongside our MCU Spider-Man (Tom Holland). This was something you’d just have to be a fan – and maybe even a parent – to have a chance of understanding. It was so very special and is a memory that I will forever cherish.
Sony Pictures
Highlights of Spider-Man:
JK Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson
Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn / The Green Goblin
Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker
Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson
Thanksgiving Dinner Scene
Chemistry Between Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst
Spider-Man vs The Green Goblin!
Upside-down Kiss in the Rain
Origin Story handled Flawlessly
Goblin Terrorizes JJJ and Aunt May
Sony Pictures
Notable MCU Concepts and Characters Introduced:
Spider-Man serves as an origin story for a Universe of characters that are formally introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, such as Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man and Willem Dafoe’s Norman Osborn / The Green Goblin. Alfred Molina’s Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus and Thomas Haden Church’s Flint Marko / The Sandman (both seen in Spider-Man: No Way Home) also originate from this Universe, with their respective stories being told in Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3. Furthermore, the MCU’s J. Jonah Jameson looks nearly identical to the Jameson from this Universe, with both portrayed by actor JK Simmons.
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