Spider-Man 3 is a 2007 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. It was directed by Sam Raimi from a screenplay by Raimi, his older brother Ivan and Alvin Sargent. It is the third installment in Spider-Man film series. The film stars Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, alongside Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Ben Kingsley, James Cromwell, Rosemary Harris, and J. K. Simmons. Set three years after the events of Spider-Man 2, the story follows Peter Parker as he prepares for his future with Mary Jane Watson, and faces three new villains: Flint Marko, a criminal who becomes the Sandman after a freak accident; Harry Osborn, his former friend, who is now aware of Peter's identity and seeks to avenge his father and his ally Adrian Toomes/Vulture.
Development of Spider-Man 3 started immediately after the successful release of Spider-Man 2 for a 2007 release. During pre-production, Raimi wanted another villain to be included along with Sandman, so he chose the Vulture. Filming began in January 2006 and took place in Los Angeles and Cleveland before moving to New York City from May to July 2006. Additional captures were made after August and the film ended in October 2006. With a budget of production estimated at US $ 258–350 million, was the most expensive film ever made at the time of its release.
Spider-Man 3 premiered on April 16, 2007 in Tokyo, and was released in the United States in conventional and IMAX cinemas on May 4, 2007. The film grossed $ 890.9 million worldwide, making it the highest grossing film in the trilogy, the third highest grossing film of 2007 and was the highest grossing Spider-Man film until it was overtaken by Spider-Man 4 in 2012. Like previous installments, Spider-Man 3 received positive reviews of critics, with 92% rating from Rotten Tomatoes.
Cast[]
- Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man
- James Franco as Harry Osborn/Hobgoblin
- Ben Kingsley as Adrian Toomes/Vulture
- Thomas Hayden Church as Flint Marko/Sandman
- Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson
- James Cromwell as Captain Stacy
- Rosemary Harris as May Parker
- J.K Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson
Production[]
Development[]
In March 2004, with Spider-Man 2 being released the coming June, Sony announced that Spider-Man 3 was already in development for a release in summer 2007. By the release of Spider-Man 2, a release date for Spider-Man 3 had been set for May 2, 2007 before production on the sequel had begun. The date was later changed to May 4, 2007. In January 2005, Sony Pictures completed a seven-figure deal with screenwriter Alvin Sargent, who had penned Spider-Man 2, to script Spider-Man 3 with an option to script a fourth film.
Immediately after Spider-Man 2's release, Ivan Raimi wrote a treatment over two months, with Sam Raimi deciding to use the film to explore Peter learning that he is not a sinless vigilante, and that there also can be humanity in those he considers criminals. Harry Osborn was brought back as Raimi wanted to conclude his storyline. Raimi felt that Harry would not follow his father's legacy, but be instead "somewhere between." Sandman was introduced as an antagonist, as Raimi found him a visually fascinating character. While Sandman is a petty criminal in the comics, the screenwriters originally planned a background of the character being Uncle Ben's killer to increase Peter's guilt over his death and challenge his simplistic perception of the event, but that idea was discarded. Overall, Raimi described the film as being about Peter, Mary Jane, Harry, and the Sandman, with Peter's journey being one of forgiveness.
Raimi wanted another villain, and Ben Kingsley already was involved in negotiations to play the Vulture. Producer Avi Arad wanted Raimi to include Venom, a character whose perceived "lack of humanity" had initially been criticized by Sam Raimi. Venom's alter-ego, Eddie Brock, already had a minor role in the script. Arad felt the series had relied too much on Raimi's personal favorite Spider-Man villains, not characters that modern fans were actually interested in, but Raimi not included Venom.
Filming[]
Camera crews spent 2 weeks from November 5–18, 2005 to film sequences that would involve intense visual effects so Sony Pictures Imageworks could begin work on the shots early in the project. The same steps had been taken for Spider-Man 2 to begin producing visual effects early for sequences involving the villain Doctor Octopus.
Principal photography for Spider-Man 3 began on January 16, 2006, and wrapped in July 2006 after over 100 days of filming. The team filmed in Los Angeles until May 19, 2006. In spring 2006, film location manager Peter Martorano brought camera crews to Cleveland, Ohio, due to the Greater Cleveland Film Commission offering production space at the city's convention center at no cost. In Cleveland, they shot the battle between Spider-Man and Sandman in the armored car. Afterwards, the team moved to Manhattan, where filming took place at various locations, including One Chase Manhattan Plaza, from May 26, 2006, until July 1, 2006. Shooting placed a strain on Raimi, who often had to move between several units to complete the picture.
After August, pick-ups were conducted as Raimi sought to film more action scenes. The film then wrapped in October, although additional special effects shots were taken to finalize the production a month later. In early 2007, there were further pick-up shots regarding the resolution of Sandman's story, amounting to four different versions.
Visual effects[]
Spider-Man throws a punch through the chest of Sandman, portrayed by Thomas Haden Church. John Dykstra, who won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for his work on Spider-Man 2, declined to work on the third film as visual effects supervisor. Dykstra's colleague, Scott Stokdyk, took his place as supervisor, leading two hundred programmers at Sony Pictures Imageworks. This group designed specific computer programs that did not exist when Spider-Man 3 began production, creating nine hundred visual effects shots.
In addition to the innovative visual effects for the film, Stokdyk created a miniature of a skyscraper section at 1:16 scale with New Deal Studios' Ian Hunter and David Sanger. Stokdyk chose to design the miniature instead of using computer-generated imagery so damage done to the building could be portrayed realistically and timely without guesswork involving computer models. To understand the effects of sand for the Sandman, experiments were done with twelve types of sand, such as splashing, launching it at stuntmen, and pouring it over ledges. The results were mimicked on the computer to create the visual effects for Sandman. For scenes involving visual effects, Thomas Haden Church was super-imposed onto the screen, where computer-generated imagery was then applied. With sand as a possible hazard in scenes that buried actors, ground-up corncobs were used as a substitute instead. Because of its resemblance to the substance, sand from Arizona was used as the model for the CG sand. In a fight where Spider-Man punches through Sandman's chest, amputee martial arts expert Baxter Humby took Tobey Maguire's place in filming the scene. Humby, whose right hand was amputated at birth, helped deliver the intended effect of punching through Sandman's chest. Producer Laura Ziskin said the visual effects budget alone was approximately 30% more than the previous film.
Music[]
Originally, Danny Elfman, the composer for the previous installments, did not plan to return for the third installment of Spider-Man because of difficulties with director Sam Raimi. Elfman said that he had a "miserable experience" working with Raimi on Spider-Man 2 and could not comfortably adapt his music. Christopher Young was then announced to score Spider-Man 3 in Elfman's absence.
According to Young, Sandman's theme uses "two contrabass saxophones, two contrabass clarinets, two contrabass bassoons and eight very low French horns" in order to sound "low, aggressive and heavy". Young described Vulture's theme as "Vicious, my instructions on that one were that he's the devil personified. His theme is much more demonic sounding." Vulture's theme uses eight French horns. Raimi approved the new themes during their first performance, but rejected the initial music to the birth of Sandman, finding it too monstrous and not tragic enough. Young had to recompose much of his score at a later stage, as the producers felt there were not enough themes from the previous films. Ultimately, new themes for the love story, Aunt May, and Mary Jane were dropped.
Reception[]
Box office[]
Spider-Man 3 earned $336.5 million in North America and $558.4 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $894.9 million. Worldwide, it is the third-highest-grossing film of 2007, the highest-grossing film of Spider-Man Film series, and was the highest-grossing film distributed by Sony/Columbia until 2012's Skyfall. The film set a worldwide single-day record ($104 million) on its first Friday and broke its own record again on Saturday ($117.6 million). It also set a worldwide opening-weekend record with $381.7 million. The film's IMAX screenings reached $20 million in 30 days, faster than any other 2D film remastered in the format.
In North America, Spider-Man 3 is the 58th-highest-grossing film, the third-highest-grossing film of the Spider-Man series, the third-highest-grossing film distributed by Sony/Columbia, and the highest-grossing 2007 film. The film sold an estimated 48,914,300 tickets. It was released in 4,252 theaters (about 10,300 screens) on Friday, May 4, 2007. It set an opening- and single-day record with $59.8 million (both were first surpassed by The Dark Knight). This included $10 million from midnight showings. Spider-Man 3 then set an opening-weekend record with $151.1 million (first surpassed by The Dark Knight), a record for the weekend per-theater average with $35,540 per theater (first surpassed by Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert), and an IMAX opening-weekend record with $4.8 million (first surpassed by The Dark Knight). The film set record Friday and Sunday grosses and achieved the largest cumulative gross through its second, third, and fourth day of release (all were first surpassed by The Dark Knight). It also set a record Saturday gross (surpassed by The Avengers).
Outside North America, it is the 23rd-highest-grossing film, the highest-grossing film of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, and the third-highest-grossing film distributed by Sony/Columbia. On its opening day (Tuesday, May 1, 2007), Spider-Man 3 grossed $29.2 million from 16 territories, an 86% increase from the intake of Spider-Man 2 on its first day of release. In 10 of the 16 territories, Spider-Man 3 set new opening-day records. These territories are Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, the Philippines, France, and Italy. In Germany, the film surpassed the opening-day gross of Spider-Man 2. During its six-day opening weekend (through its first Sunday), the film earned $230.5 million from 107 markets, finishing #1 in all of them. Spider-Man 3 set opening-weekend records in 29 markets including Italy, China, South Korea (the latter was first surpassed by Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End), India, Singapore, Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Peru. However, many of these records were achieved thanks to its six-day opening, while previous record-holders in some countries opened over the traditional three-day weekend (traditional two-, four-, or five-day weekend in other countries). In India, it grossed $16.4 million and was the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2007 there. Spider-Man 3 was in first place at the box office outside North America for three consecutive weekends.
Critical response[]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 92% approval rating based on 262 reviews, with an average rating of 9.24/10. The website's critics consensus reads "Boasting well-written villains and an emotional focus as deep as its predecessors, this is an agile sequence that improves on its prequels." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gave the film a score of 76 out of 100 based on 54 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Awards[]
Spider-Man 3 was nominated in the 80th Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects, but ended up losing to The Golden Compass. The film won Saturn Awards for Best Actor, Best Director, Best Fantasy Film, Best Special Effects, and Best Writer. The American Film Institute (AFI) listed the film as one of the 2007's ten best films, and nominated it for positions on the lists of the top 10 fantasy films, the 100 most inspiring American films, and the 100 greatest American films.
Videos[]
Trailers[]
External links[]
- Official website
- Spider-Man 3 at IMDb