Spider-Man 3

***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 and final installment in Raimi's *Spider-Man* trilogy. The film stars Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, alongside Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, James Cromwell, Rosemary Harris, and J. K. Simmons. Set shortly after the events of *Spider-Man 2*, as Peter Parker prepares for his future with Mary Jane Watson, he bonds with an extraterrestrial symbiote, bringing out his anger while facing three villains: Uncle Ben's true killer, Flint Marko, who becomes the Sandman after a freak accident; Harry Osborn, who seeks to avenge his father; and Eddie Brock, a rival photographer who becomes Venom after acquiring Peter's symbiote.

Development of *Spider-Man 3* began immediately after the successful release of *Spider-Man 2* for a 2007 release. During pre-production, Raimi originally wanted another villain to be included along with Sandman. At the request of producer Avi Arad, he added Venom and the producers also requested the addition of Gwen Stacy. Principal photography for the film began in January 2006, and took place in Los Angeles and Cleveland before moving to New York City from May until July 2006. Additional pick-up shots were made after August and the film wrapped in October 2006. During post-production, Sony Pictures Imageworks created over 900 visual effects shots. With an estimated production budget of $258–350 million, it 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 both conventional and IMAX theaters on May 4, 2007. The film grossed $890.9 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of the trilogy, the third-highest-grossing film of 2007 and was the highest-grossing *Spider-Man* film until it was surpassed by *Spider-Man: Far From Home* in 2019. Unlike the previous installments, *Spider-Man 3* received a mixed reception from critics, who praised the performances, visual effects and action sequences, but criticized the overloaded storylines and subplots and an overabundance of villains. The majority of these issues were later attributed to studio interferences and creative differences between Sony, Raimi and Arad.

A fourth installment, titled *Spider-Man 4*, was set to be released on May 6, 2011, followed by a *Venom* spin-off film, but both were canceled due to Raimi's withdrawal over creative differences with the writers and producers. The *Spider-Man* film series was rebooted twice; first with *The Amazing Spider-Man* (2012) by Marc Webb and starring Andrew Garfield; and later a new film series set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, directed by Jon Watts and starring Tom Holland, beginning with *Spider-Man: Homecoming* (2017). The *Venom* spin-off was revived in 2016 by Sony and was finally released in 2018 with *Venom*, set within Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters and directed by Ruben Fleischer and starring Tom Hardy.