Spider-Man 2

**Spider-Man 2** is a 2009 superhero film set in the Marvel Media Franchise, the tenth film in the universe. It is also a sequel to *Spider-Man*. The film stars Armie Hammer, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Paul Dano, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Adrianne Palicki, Patrick Wilson, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Sela Ward, and Rainn Wilson and was released worldwide on January 30, 2009. The film ran 130 minutes and grossed $709.7 million on a $200 million budget.

## Plot

Peter Parker has been Spider-Man for over two years now. He attends New York University alongside his friends Gwen Stacey, Harry Osborn, and Liz Allan. Peter and Liz have finally started dating after years of attraction, however their relationship is threatened when Mary Jane Watson begins attending the school, attracting the attention of Peter. Gwen, Harry, Liz, and Peter's aunt May Parker are the only ones who know of Peter's secret. Meanwhile, a former teacher of the friends, Otto Octavius, has taken over OsCorp, Harry's father's former company before he was arrested, as Harry did not want anything to do with the company. However, Octavius has been working on a very dangerous suit of armor in the form of an octopus, with eight long weaponized arms that the user can control. OsCorp views this as dangerous, while Octavius wants to use the armor to help people.

## Cast

* Armie Hammer as Peter Parker/Spider-Man
* Olivia Taylor Dudley as Gwen Stacey
* Paul Dano as Harry Osborn
* Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Liz Allan
* Adrianne Palicki as Mary Jane Watson
* Patrick Wilson as Max Dillon
* Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Quentin Beck
* Sela Ward as Aunt May
* Rainn Wilson as Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus

## Production

A sequel to *Spider-Man*was announced in May 2006, two months before the original was even released. Dudley, Dano, Winstead, and Ward had signed on for three films, while Hammer signed on for six films in the franchise, three *Spider-Man*films and three other films in the universe. After the success, Sam Raimi signed on to direct *Spider-Man 2* and a potential third film. Chris McKenna was hired to write the film alongside Jeff Pinkner. Wilson agreed to sign onto *Spider-Man 2* and one other undecided film in the franchise. A release date of July 24, 2009 was announced in December 2006. Throughout 2007, Adrianne Palicki was cast as Mary Jane Watson, while Patrick Wilson and Ewan McGregor were cast as Max Dillon and Quentin Beck, respectively, in supporting roles and to appear in *Spider-Man 3* as villains. Filming began on February 3, 2008, way ahead of schedule and ended on May 17, more than a year before it's release date. However, due to early post-production and the release date putting the film in danger of low box office because of *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* releasing the week before, the film's release date was moved up to January 30, 2009 with no competition.

## Reception

### **Box office**

*Spider-Man 2* grossed $296,623,634 domestically and $413,087,374 in other areas for a worldwide total of $709,711,008.

### **Critical reception**

*Spider-Man 2* has received generally negative reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 28% of 222 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 4.7 out of 10. The site's general consensus is that "*Spider-Man'*s second installment may satisfy hardcore fans of the series, but outsiders are likely to be turned off by its slow pace, relentlessly downcast tone, and excessive length." On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 reviews from film critics, the film has a rating score of 44 based on 32 reviews.