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Spider-Man 3

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For video game based on the film, see Spider-Man 3 (video game). For the soundtrack of the film, see Spider-Man 3: The Official Soundtrack.
Spider-Man 3
Movie poster illustrates Spider-Man swinging from a web next to a reflection of himself in the window of a large skyscraper in New York City. The reflection shows the regular red-and-blue Spider-man costume, while the Spider-Man swinging through the city shows him wearing his symbiote black costume. Text at the top of the image includes the tagline "The Greatest Battle Lies Within". Text at the bottom of the poster reveals the title, production credits, and release date.
International poster
Directed bySam Raimi
Written bySam Raimi
Ivan Raimi
Alvin Sargent
Sam Raimi (Story)
Ivan Raimi (Story)
Stan Lee
(Comic book)
Steve Ditko
(Comic book)
Produced byAvi Arad
Laura Ziskin
Grant Curtis
Stan Lee (Executive)
Kevin Feige (Executive)
Joseph M. Caracciolo (Executive)
StarringTobey Maguire
Kirsten Dunst
James Franco
Thomas Haden Church
Topher Grace
Bryce Dallas Howard
CinematographyBill Pope
Edited byBob Murawski
Music byChristopher Young
Danny Elfman (Themes)
Production
companies
Marvel Entertainment
Laura Ziskins Productions
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
(Sony Pictures Entertainment)
Release dates
April 16, 2007 (2007-04-16)
(Tokyo premiere)
May 4, 2007 (2007-05-04)
Running time
139 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$258 million[1]
Box office$890,871,626[2]

Spider-Man 3 is a 2007 superhero film written and directed by Sam Raimi, with a screenplay by Ivan Raimi and Alvin Sargent. It is the third and final film in the Spider-Man film franchise based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. The film stars Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, and Bryce Dallas Howard.

The film begins with Peter Parker basking in his success as Spider-Man, while Mary Jane Watson continues her Broadway career. Harry Osborn still seeks vengeance for his father's death, and an escaped convict, Flint Marko, falls into a particle accelerator and is transformed into a shape-shifting sand manipulator. An extraterrestrial symbiote crashes to Earth and bonds with Peter, influencing his behavior for the worse. When Peter abandons the symbiote, it finds refuge in Eddie Brock, a rival photographer, causing Peter to face his greatest challenge.

Spider-Man 3 was commercially released in multiple countries on May 1, 2007, and released in the United States in both conventional and IMAX theaters on May 4, 2007, by Columbia Pictures. Although the film received generally mixed reviews from critics, in contrast to the previous two films' highly positive reviews, it stands as the most successful film in the series worldwide, Marvel's most successful film, Sony Pictures Entertainment's highest grossing film to date, as well as the second highest-grossing superhero film behind 2008's The Dark Knight.

Plot

Peter Parker has begun to feel secure in his life and plans to propose to Mary Jane. While Peter and Mary Jane are on a date, a small meteorite crashes nearby, and an extraterrestrial symbiote attaches itself to Peter's moped. Meanwhile, escaped convict Flint Marko falls into a particle accelerator that fuses his body with the surrounding sand. The result allows him to shape shift at will, becoming the Sandman. Peter's best friend, Harry Osborn, who seeks vengeance for his father's death, which he believes Peter caused, attacks him. During the scuffle, Harry injures his head and suffers from partial amnesia, making him forget his vendetta.

Later, during a festival honoring Spider-Man for saving Gwen Stacy's life, Sandman attempts to rob an armored car, and overpowers Spider-Man, though failing to steal the money. Gwen's father, police officer Captain Stacy, later informs Peter and Aunt May that Marko is the one who killed Ben Parker. A vengeful Peter waits for Marko to strike again. The symbiote bonds with his costume while he is asleep; Peter discovers that not only has his costume changed, but his powers have been enhanced as well. Perhaps capitalizing on Peter's current conflicted and anguished state of mind, the black suit brings out the more vengeful, insensitive, and arrogant side of Peter's personality. Wearing the new suit, Peter locates Flint Marko, fights him in a cavernous underground subway tunnel and, upon discovering that water can dissolve Marko's body, rips open a large water pipe to deliver what he believes to be a lethal torrent of water.

The shift in Peter's personality alienates Mary Jane, whose career is floundering, and she finds solace with Harry. Harry recovers from his amnesia and, urged on by an apparition of his dead father, forces Mary Jane to break up with Peter. After Mary Jane leaves Peter, stating she is in love with another man, Harry meets him at a restaurant and claims to be the other man. Later, Peter confronts him at the Osborn mansion. With the help of the black suit, Peter is victorious in a brutal fight, which leaves Harry's face disfigured. Influenced by the suit, Peter exposes and humiliates Eddie Brock, a rival freelance photographer, who has just gained overnight star status at the The Daily Bugle by submitting doctored photographs supposedly showing Spider-Man to be a criminal. Peter changes his dress and hairstyle and begins to behave like a conceited lout. Meanwhile, Sandman recovers from his injuries, and swears revenge on Spider-Man.

In an effort to make Mary Jane jealous, Peter brings Gwen to the nightclub where Mary Jane works. He gets into a fight with the club's bouncers and unintentionally shoves Mary Jane, knocking her to the floor. Peter realizes the symbiote-suit is changing him for the worse. He walks out of the nightclub and goes to a church bell tower to dispose of it. Initially, he is unable to remove the suit, but the symbiote eventually weakens, enabling Peter to break free. Eddie Brock is at the same church praying for Peter's death when the symbiote falls from the tower and takes over his body. The newly-empowered Eddie finds Sandman and suggests joining forces to destroy Spider-Man.

The pair put Mary Jane in a taxicab and hang it from a gigantic symbiote web. Peter approaches Harry for help, but is turned down. However, Harry learns the truth about his father's death from his butler Bernard, and arrives in time to rescue Peter; they form an alliance against the two villains. As the fight progresses, Eddie attempts to impale Peter with Harry's glider, but Harry jumps in the way and is (apparently fatally) wounded. During his fight with Venom, Peter notices that falling lengths of pipe appear to distress the symbiote, and Peter recalls how the church bell's toll weakened it, and frees Eddie from it by creating a ring of several pipes around Venom to make a 'fence' of sonic vibrations. Peter throws a pumpkin bomb at the symbiote, without realizing that Eddie has jumped into the ring in an attempt to rebond with it; the explosion gives cover for Venom to escape.

After the battle, Marko recovers and tells Peter that he had no intention of killing Ben Parker, and that it was an accident born out of a desperate attempt to save his daughter's life. Peter forgives Marko, who dissipates and floats away, presumably to continue his efforts to help his daughter. Peter and Harry forgive each other before Harry loses consciousness (and, one assumes, passes away) with Mary Jane and Peter at his side. Peter and Mary Jane begin to mend their relationship when Peter walks into the jazz bar where Mary Jane is singing.

Cast and characters

  • Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man: A superhero, a brilliant physics student at Columbia University, and photographer for the Daily Bugle. As he grows arrogant with the city starting to embrace him for the first time in his career, an alien symbiote attaches itself to Peter's costume and influences his behavior for the worse. Maguire said he relished the opportunity to play a less timid Peter in this film.[3]
  • Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson: Peter Parker's girlfriend and a Broadway actress, whom he has loved since childhood. Mary Jane has a string of bad luck in the film, reminiscent of Peter's misfortune in Spider-Man 2, losing her job because of bad reviews and losing her boyfriend when the symbiote takes him over.[3]
  • James Franco as Harry Osborn / New Goblin: The son of Norman Osborn and Peter Parker's best friend, who believes Spider-Man murdered his father. After learning Peter is Spider-Man and that Norman was the Green Goblin, Harry becomes the New Goblin to battle his former friend directly.
  • Rosemary Harris as May Parker: The aunt of Peter Parker and the widow of Ben Parker, Peter's uncle. She gives Peter her engagement ring so he can propose to Mary Jane, and gives him lessons in forgiveness.
  • J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson: The aggressive chief of The Daily Bugle. He has particular dislike towards Spider-Man, whom he considers a criminal.
  • Dylan Baker as Dr. Curt Connors: A college physics professor under whom Peter Parker studies. He examines a piece of the symbiote and tells Peter it "amplifies characteristics of its host... especially aggression."
  • Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn / Green Goblin: The hallucination of Harry Osborn's late wicked father returns to encourage his son to destroy Spider-Man.
  • Cliff Robertson as Ben Parker: Peter Parker's deceased uncle.
  • Bill Nunn as Joseph "Robbie" Robertson: A longtime employee at The Daily Bugle.
  • Michael Papajohn as Dennis Carradine: The carjacker who was believed to have murdered Uncle Ben.
  • Elizabeth Banks as Betty Brant: Receptionist at The Daily Bugle for J. Jonah Jameson.

In addition to these reprisals, Spider-Man 3 introduces:

"Villains with a conscience have this sad realization of who they are, and the monster they've become — there's a sense of regret. So at the end of these movies there's a dramatic resonance that really stays with the audience."
—Thomas Haden Church on Sandman[4]
  • Thomas Haden Church as Flint Marko / Sandman: A small-time thug who has a wife and sick daughter, for whom he steals money to help get the treatment to cure her. He transforms into the Sandman following a freak accident, and incurs Peter's wrath when Peter learns he was his Uncle Ben's true killer. Church was approached for Sandman because of his award-winning performance in the film Sideways,[5] and accepted the role despite the lack of a script at the time. The film's Sandman possesses sympathy similarly exhibited by Lon Chaney in his portrayals of misunderstood creatures, as well as Frankenstein's monster, the Golem,[6] and Andy Serkis's portrayals of Gollum and King Kong.[4] Church worked out for sixteen months to improve his physique for the role,[7] gaining 28 pounds of muscle and losing ten pounds of fat.[8]
  • Topher Grace as Eddie Brock, Jr./Venom: Peter's rival at the Daily Bugle. He is exposed by Peter for creating a fake incriminating image of Spider-Man, and leaps at the opportunity to exact his revenge when he bonds with the symbiote. Grace had impressed the producers with his performance in the film In Good Company. A big comic book fan who read the first Venom stories as a boy,[7] Grace spent six months working out to prepare for the role, gaining twenty-four pounds of muscle.[9] He approached the character as someone under the influence, similar to an alcoholic or drug addict,[10] and interpreted him as having a bad childhood, which is the key difference between him and Peter.[11] Grace found his costume unpleasant, as it had to be constantly smeared to give a liquid-like feel. The costume took an hour to put on, though prosthetics took four hours to apply. Grace also wore fangs, which bruised his gums.[12]
  • Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen Stacy: Peter's lab partner. He asks her out to embarrass Mary Jane when possessed by the symbiote. Howard said the challenge of playing the role was in reminding many fans of the good-natured character who was Peter's first love in the comics, yet was "the other woman" in the film. Howard strived to create a sense that Gwen could potentially be a future girlfriend for him, and that, "I was not acting like some kind of man-stealing tart."[13] Howard performed many of her stunts, unaware of the fact she was several months pregnant.[3]

Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee has a cameo in Spider-Man 3, as he did in the previous Spider-Man films, which he referred to as his "best cameo".[14] Actor Bruce Campbell, who had cameo roles as a wrestling ring announcer in Spider-Man and as a rude usher in Spider-Man 2, returns in Spider-Man 3 with a new cameo as a French maître d'. Originally his character, who helps Peter try to propose, was much more antagonistic. Composer Christopher Young appears in the film as a pianist at Mary Jane's theater when she is fired, while producer Grant Curtis cameoed as the driver of an armored car that Sandman attacks.[15] Comedian Dean Edwards cameoed as one of the newspaper readers who badmouth Spider-Man.

Production

Development

"The most important thing Peter right now has to learn is that this whole concept of him as the avenger or him as the hero, he wears this red and blue outfit, with each criminal he brings to justice he's trying to pay down this debt of guilt he feels about the death of Uncle Ben. He considers himself a hero and a sinless person versus these villains that he nabs. We felt it would be a great thing for him to learn a little less black and white view of life and that he's not above these people."
— Sam Raimi[16]

In March 2004, with Spider-Man 2 being released the coming June, Marvel Studios had begun developing Spider-Man 3 for a release in 2007.[17] 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.[18] The date was later changed to May 4, 2007. In January 2005, Sony Pictures Entertainment completed a seven-figure deal with screenwriter Alvin Sargent, who had penned Spider-Man 2, to work on Spider-Man 3 with an option to write a fourth film.[19]

Immediately after Spider-Man 2's release, Ivan Raimi wrote a treatment over two months,[3] 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.[16] Harry Osborn was brought back as Raimi wanted to conclude his storyline.[16] Raimi felt that Harry would not follow his father's legacy, but be instead "somewhere between."[20] Sandman was introduced as an antagonist, as Raimi found him a visually fascinating character.[16] While Sandman is a petty criminal in the comics, the screenwriters created a background of the character being Uncle Ben's killer to increase Peter's guilt over his death[21] and challenge his simplistic perception of the event.[16] Overall, Raimi described the film as being about Peter, Mary Jane, Harry, and the Sandman,[22] with Peter's journey being one of forgiveness.[10]

Raimi wanted another villain, and Ben Kingsley was involved in negotiations to play the Vulture before the character was cut.[3] Producer Avi Arad convinced Raimi to include Venom, a character whose perceived "lack of humanity" had initially been criticized by Sam Raimi.[11] Venom's alter-ego, Eddie Brock, already had a minor role in the script.[23] Arad told the director that Venom had a strong fan base, so Raimi included the character to please them,[22] and even began to appreciate the character himself.[11] The film's version of the character is an amalgamation of Venom stories. Eddie Brock, Jr., the human part of Venom, serves as a mirror to Peter Parker, with both characters having similar jobs and romantic interests.[11] Brock's actions as a journalist in Spider-Man 3 also represent contemporary themes of paparazzi and tabloid journalism.[4] The producers also suggested adding rival love interest Gwen Stacy, filling in an "other girl" type that Raimi already created.[22] With so many additions, Sargent soon found his script so complex that he considered splitting it into two films, but abandoned the idea when he could not create a successful intermediate climax.[3]

Filming

Camera crews spent ten days from November 5, 2005 to November 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.[24]

Principal photography for Spider-Man 3 began on January 16, 2006 and wrapped in July 2006 after over a hundred days of filming. The team filmed in Los Angeles until May 19, 2006.[24] In spring 2006, film location manager Peter Martorano brought camera crews to Cleveland,[25] due to the Cleveland Film Commission offering production space at the city's convention center at no cost.[26] In Cleveland, they shot the battle between Spider-Man and Sandman in the armored car.[3] Afterwards, the team moved to Manhattan, where filming took place from May 26, 2006 until July 1, 2006.[24] Shooting placed a strain on Raimi, who often had to move between several units to complete the picture.[3] Shooting was also difficult for cinematographer Bill Pope, as the symbiote Spider-Man, Venom, and the New Goblin were costumed in black during fight scenes taking place at night.[27]

After August, pick-ups were conducted as Raimi sought to film more action scenes.[28] The film then wrapped in October, although in the following month, additional special effects shots were taken to finalize the production.[29] At the start of 2007, there were further pick-up shots regarding the resolution of Sandman's story, amounting to four different versions.[6]

Effects

Spider-Man punches Sandman, and his fist is seen on the other side of his chest, with sand blowing through the hole
Amputee boxer Baxter Humby, as Spider-Man, throws a computer-generated punch through the chest of Sandman, portrayed by Thomas Haden Church.

John Dykstra, who won the Academy Award for 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,[30] 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.[31]

Concept art for Venom's costume, which is a black-white version of Spider-Man's suit, but more muscular and with an open mouth with sharp teeth
Concept art of the Venom suit, which possesses a webbing motif, unlike the comics, in order to show the symbiote's control and represent the character as a twisted foil to Spider-Man.

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.[32] In addition, to Sony Imageworks, CafeFX provided visual effects for the crane disaster scene when Spider-Man rescues Gwen Stacy, as well as shots in the climactic battle.[33] 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.[31] For scenes involving visual effects, Thomas Haden Church was super-imposed onto the screen, where computer-generated imagery was then applied.[5] With sand as a possible hazard in scenes that buried actors, ground-up corncobs were used as a substitute instead.[34] Because of its resemblance to the substance, sand from Arizona was used as the model for the CG sand.[31] 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.[35]

Whereas the symbiote suit worn in the comics by Spider-Man was a plain black affair with a large white spider on the front and back, the design was changed for the film to become a black version of Spider-Man's traditional costume, complete with webbing motif. As a consequence of this, the suit Topher Grace wore as Venom also bore the webbing motif; as producer Grant Curtis noted, "it’s the Spider-Man suit, but twisted and mangled in its own right."[36] Additionally, the motif gave a sense of life to the symbiote, giving it the appearance of gripping onto the character's body.[37] When animating the symbiote, Raimi did not want it to resemble a spider or an octopus, and to give it a sense of character. The CG model is made of many separate strands.[38] When animating Venom himself, animators observed footage of big cats such as lions and cheetahs for the character's agile movements.[39]

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.[40] Christopher Young was then announced to score Spider-Man 3 in Elfman's absence.[41] In December 2006, however, producer Grant Curtis announced that Elfman had begun collaborating with Christopher Young on the music for Spider-Man 3.[42]

Young, who had composed some of the score for the second film, kept the themes for Spider-Man and the Green Goblin, and he composed new themes for Sandman, Venom, and the love story.[43] Sandman's theme uses "two contrabass saxophones, two contrabass clarinets, two contrabass bassoons and eight very low French horns" to sound "low, aggressive and heavy". Young described Venom's theme as "Vicious, my instructions on that one were that he’s the devil personified. His theme is much more demonic sounding."[44] Venom's theme uses eight French horns.[45] 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 weren't enough themes from the previous films.[44] Ultimately, new themes for the love story, Aunt May, and Mary Jane were dropped.[45]

Reception

Tobey Maguire, in a suit, greets fans behind a security barrier. Most of the attendants hold cameras.
Tobey Maguire greets fans at the premiere in Queens, New York.

Spider-Man 3 had its world premiere in Tokyo on April 16, 2007,[46] which garnered positive reaction from Japanese viewers.[47] The film held its UK premiere on April 23, 2007 at the Odeon Leicester Square,[48] and the U.S. premiere took place at the Tribeca Film Festival in Queens on April 30, 2007.[49]

Spider-Man 3 was commercially released in sixteen territories on May 1, 2007.[50] The film was released in Japan on May 1, 2007, three days prior to the American commercial release, to coincide with Japan's Golden Week.[46] Spider-Man 3 was also released in China on May 3, 2007 to circumvent market growth of pirated copies of the film. The studio's release of a film in China before its domestic release was a first for Sony Pictures Releasing International.[51] By May 6, 2007, Spider-Man 3 opened in 107 countries around the world.[50]

The film was commercially released in the United States on May 4, 2007 in a North American record total of 4,253 theaters,[52] including fifty-three IMAX theaters.[53] The record number of theaters was later beaten by Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which was released in 4,362 theaters in the United States—109 more than Spider-Man 3.[54] Tracking data a month before the U.S. release reflected over 90% awareness and over 20% first choice among moviegoers, statistics that estimated an opening weekend of over $100 million for Spider-Man 3.[55] Online tickets for Spider-Man 3 were reported on April 23, 2007 to have been purchased at a faster rate—three times at Movietickets.com and four times at Fandango—than online ticket sales for Spider-Man 2.[56] On May 2, 2007, Fandango reported the sales rate as six times greater than the rate for Spider-Man 2. The strong ticket sales caused theaters to add 3:00 AM showings following the May 4, 2007 midnight showing to accommodate the demand.[57]

The FX channel signed a five-year deal for the television rights to Spider-Man 3, which they began airing in 2009. The price was based on the film's box office performance, with an option for three opportunities for Sony to sell the rights to one or more other broadcast networks.[58]

Marketing

Further information: Spider-Man 3 (video game) and Spider-Man 3: The Official Soundtrack

In New York City, the hometown of Spider-Man's fictional universe, tourist attractions arranged events and exhibits on April 30, 2007 to lead up to the release of Spider-Man 3. The unique campaign include a spider exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, workshops on baby spider plants at the New York Botanical Garden, Green Goblin mask-making workshop at the Children's Museum of Manhattan, and a scavenger hunt and a bug show at Central Park Zoo.[59]

Hasbro, which holds the license for Marvel characters, released several toys to tie-in with the film. They include a deluxe spinning web blaster, along with several lines of action figures aimed at both children and collectors.[60] Toys of the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus from the first two films have been re-released to match the smaller scale of the new figures, as have been toys of the Lizard, the Scorpion, Kraven the Hunter, and Rhino in a style reminiscent of the films.[61][62] Techno Source created interactive toys, including a "hand-held Battle Tronics device that straps to the inside of a player's wrist and mimics Spidey's web-slinging motions".[63] Japanese Medicom Toy Corporation produced collectibles, which Sideshow Collectibles distributed in the U.S.[64]

Reviews

The film has received generally mixed reviews from critics. On the movie review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, Spider-Man 3 has a 62% "fresh" approval rating based on 234 reviews, with a 43% approval rating based on 42 reviews from major news outlets.[65] On Metacritic, Spider-Man 3 has received a 59% rating based on 40 reviews.[66] On Yahoo! Movies, Spider-Man 3 is graded a B- among 14 film critics.[67]

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times deplored the film's pacing as "mostly just plods" and a lack of humor.[68] Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film only 2 out of 4 stars, feeling, "for every slam-bang action sequence, there are far too many sluggish scenes."[69] David Edelstein of New York Magazine misses the "centrifugal threat" of Alfred Molina's character, adding that "the three villains here don’t add up to one Doc Ock."[70] James Berardinelli felt director Sam Raimi "overreached his grasp" by allowing so many villains, specifically saying, "Venom is one bad guy too many."[71] Roger Ebert thought Church never expressed how Sandman felt about his new powers, something Molina, as Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2, did "with a vengeance"; he claimed the film was "a mess," with too many villains, subplots, romantic misunderstandings, conversations and "street crowds looking high into the air and shouting 'oooh!' this way, then swiveling and shouting 'aaah!' that way."[72] The New Yorker's Anthony Lane, who gave Spider-Man 2 a favorable review,[73] summarized the film as a "shambles" which "makes the rules up as it goes along."[74]

However, Roger Friedman of Fox News called the film a "4 star opera", noting that while long, there was plenty of humor and action.[75] Andy Khouri of Comic Book Resources praised the film as "easily the most complex and deftly orchestrated superhero epic ever filmed [...] despite the enormous amount of characters, action and sci-fi superhero plot going on in this film, Spider-Man 3 never feels weighted down, tedious or boring."[76] Jonathan Ross, a big fan of the comic books, felt the film was the best of the trilogy.[77] Richard Corliss of Time commended the filmmakers for their ability to "dramatize feelings of angst and personal betrayal worthy of an Ingmar Bergman film, and then to dress them up in gaudy comic-book colors".[78] Wesley Morris of the The Boston Globe, who gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, wrote that it was a well made, fresh film, but would leave the viewer "overfulfilled".[79] Jonathan Dean of Total Film felt the film's complex plot helped the film's pacing, in that, "it rarely feels disjointed or loose [...] Spider-Man cements its shelf-life."[80] Entertainment Weekly named the Sandman as the eighth best computer-generated film character.[81]

John Hartl of MSNBC gave Spider-Man 3 a good review, but stated that it has some flaws such as having "too many storylines".[82] His opinion is echoed by Houston Chronicle's Amy Biancolli who complained that "the script is busy with so many supporting characters and plot detours that the series' charming idiosyncrasy is sometimes lost in the noise."[83] Jack Matthews of New York Daily News thought the film was too devoted to the "quiet conversations" of Peter and Mary Jane, but that fans would not be disappointed by the action.[84] Finally, Sean Burns of Philadelphia Weekly felt that the director "substituted scope and scale for the warmth and wit that made those two previous pictures so memorable."[85]

Impact

Box office performance

On its international opening day on May 1, 2007 in 16 territories, Spider-Man 3 grossed $29.2 million, 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.[50] In Asian territories, the film surpassed the opening-day record of Spider-Man 2 in Japan and South Korea. Spider-Man 3 also set opening-day records in Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and the Philippines.[52] In India, where the film was released in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Bhojpuri, the film grossed $4.66 million over the opening weekend, breaking the record set by Casino Royale in 2006 ($3.63 million).[86] In Europe, the film broke Italy's opening-day record set by 2006's The Da Vinci Code.[87] In Germany, the film surpassed the opening day gross of Spider-Man 2. In France, Spider-Man 3 broke the opening day record set by Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith in 2005.[88] The film broke the opening weekend records in 29 countries, while reaching at least the number one position in all 107 countries that it opened, which brought its international total to $231 million.[89]

Spider-Man 3 set a then record $59,841,919 take for its opening day in the United States, breaking Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 's $55.8 million record. The film also took the worldwide opening day record with $117 million.[90] The U.S. opening day take includes a record $10 million in Thursday midnight showings.[91] Spider-Man 3 broke Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest's all-time weekend debut by grossing $151,116,516 from an ultrawide release of 4,252 theaters (about 10,000 screens) for an average of about $35,540 per theater.[92] The film also set a new worldwide record for opening weekend, with a final total of $382 million.[89] As of December 3, 2007, the total gross in America was $336,530,303, making it the highest-grossing film of 2007 in the U.S., however that also stands as the lowest domestic tally in the franchise, while the worldwide total was $890,871,626. It is the third highest-grossing film worldwide in 2007 behind Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix[2] and 13th of all time. The film's IMAX screenings reached $20 million in 30 days, faster than any other 2D film remastered in the format.[93]

Home video

Spider-Man 3 was released on Region 4 DVD in Australia on September 18, 2007.[94] For Region 2 in the United Kingdom, the film was released on October 15, 2007.[95] Spider-Man 3 was released on DVD in Region 1 territories on October 30, 2007. The film is available in one-disc and two-disc editions, on both standard and Blu-ray formats, as well as packages with the previous films and a PSP release.[96] Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad, and Grant Curtis are among those who contributed to the audio commentaries.

Sony announced plans to create "one of the largest" marketing campaigns in Hollywood for the October 30, 2007 release of the DVD. Beginning with a partnership with Papa Johns, Sony printed close to 8.5 billion impressions for pizza boxes, television, radio, and online ads. Sony also worked with Pringles Potato Crisp, Blu-Tack, Jolly Time Pop Corn, and Nutella. Sony's Vice President of marketing, Jennifer Anderson, stated the studio spend approximately 15% to 25% of its marketing budget on digital ad campaigns; from this, Papa Johns sent text messages to mobile phones with ads. Anderson stated that there would be three sweepstakes held for consumers, where they would be able to win prizes from Sony and its promotional partners.[97]

In the United States, the film grossed more than $121 million on DVD sales in 18 weeks.[98] It also grossed more than $43.76 million on DVD/Home Video Rentals in 11 weeks.[99] However, the DVD sales results of this film did not meet industry expectations.[100]

References

  1. ^ Diane Garrett (2007-04-16). "Red carpet becoming more global". Variety. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
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