Spider-Man (2002 film) (A Brighter Millennium Dawn)

Spider-Man is a 2002 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero of the same title. Directed by Sam Raimi from a screenplay by David Koepp, it is the first installment in Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, and stars Tobey Maguire as the titular character, alongside Willem Dafoe, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Cliff Robertson, and Rosemary Harris. The film chronicles Spider-Man's origin story and early superhero career. After being bitten by a genetically-altered spider, outcast teenager Peter Parker develops spider-like superhuman abilities and adopts a masked superhero identity to fight crime and injustice in New York City, facing the sinister Green Goblin (Dafoe) in the process. Directed by Sam Raimi, Produced by Laura Ziskin, Ian Bryce. Screenplay by David Koepp. Based on The Amazing Spider-Man (Comic) Starring: Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Cliff Robertson, Rosemary Harris. Music by Danny Elfman. Cinematography by Don Burgess Edited by Bob Murawski, Arthur Coburn. Production company: Columbia Pictures, Marvel Enterprises, Laura Ziskin Productions. Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. Release date: April 29, 2002 (Mann Village Theater), May 3, 2002 (United States). Country: United States. Language: English. Budget: $139 million. Box office: $825 million.

Development on a live-action Spider-Man film began in the 1980s. Filmmakers Tobe Hooper, James Cameron, and Joseph Zito were all attached to direct the film at one point. However, the project would languish in development hell due to licensing and financial issues. After progress on the film stalled for nearly 25 years, it was licensed for a worldwide release by Columbia Pictures in 1999 after it acquired options from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on all previous scripts developed by Cannon Films, Carolco, and New Cannon. Exercising its option on just two elements from the multi-script acquisition (a different screenplay was written by James Cameron, Ted Newsom, John Brancato, Barney Cohen, and Joseph Goldman), Sony hired Koepp to create a working screenplay (credited as Cameron's), and Koepp received sole credit in final billing. Directors Roland Emmerich, Ang Lee, Chris Columbus, Barry Sonnenfeld, Tim Burton, Michael Bay, Jan de Bont, M. Night Shyamalan, Tony Scott, and David Fincher were considered to direct the project before Raimi was hired as director in 2000. The Koepp script was rewritten by Scott Rosenberg during pre-production and received a dialogue polish from Alvin Sargent during production. Filming took place in Los Angeles and New York City from January to June 2001. Sony Pictures Imageworks handled the film's visual effects.

Spider-Man premiered at the Mann Village Theater on April 29, 2002, and was released in the United States on May 3, 2002 (it is not pulled from the movies on September 11, 2001 nor altered post release). The film received positive reviews from audiences and critics who praised Raimi's direction, the performances, visual effects, action sequences, and musical score. It was the first film to reach $100 million in a single weekend as well as the most successful film based on a comic book at the time. With a box office gross of over $825 million worldwide, it was the third highest-grossing film of 2002, the highest-grossing superhero film and the sixth highest-grossing film overall at the time of its release. Spider-Man is credited for redefining the modern superhero genre, as well as the summer blockbuster. After its success, the film spawned two sequels, Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3, released in 2004 and 2007 respectively. Maguire and Dafoe later reprised their roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), which dealt with the concept of the multiverse and linked the Raimi trilogy to the MCU.

## **Plot**

On a school trip, high school senior Peter Parker visits a Columbia University genetics laboratory with his best friend Harry Osborn and his crush Mary Jane Watson. There, a genetically engineered "super-spider" bites him, and he falls ill upon returning home. Meanwhile, Harry's father Norman Osborn, a scientist and the founder and owner of Oscorp, tries to secure an important military contract. He experiments on himself with an unstable performance-enhancing chemical and goes insane, killing his assistant.

The next day, Peter finds he is no longer near-sighted and has developed spider-like abilities: he can shoot webs out of his wrists and has quick reflexes, superhuman speed and strength, and a heightened ability to sense danger. Brushing off his Uncle Ben's advice that "with great power comes great responsibility", Peter considers buying a car to impress Mary Jane. He enters an underground wrestling event to win the money for it and wins his first match, but the promoter cheats him out of his earnings. When a man robs the promoter's office, Peter allows him to escape in retaliation. Moments later, he discovers Ben was carjacked and killed. Peter pursues the carjacker, only to realize it was the man he let escape. The carjacker flees but dies after falling out a window. Meanwhile, a crazed Norman interrupts a military experiment by Oscorp's corporate rival Quest Aerospace and kills several people.

Upon graduating, Peter begins using his abilities to fight injustice, donning a spandex costume and the masked persona of Spider-Man. He swings through the city fighting criminals and saving people. He even stopped some bank robbers by trapping their helicopter in a giant web between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. J. Jonah Jameson, publisher of the Daily Bugle newspaper, hires Peter as a freelance photographer since he is the only person providing clear images of Spider-Man. However, Jameson uses the pictures to discredit Spider-Man, believing he is a menace. Meanwhile, Peter decides to move to an apartment with his best friend and Norman's son Harry. Peter attends the World Unity Fair, taking photos for the Daily Bugle after proving to his boss, J Jonah Jameson, his skill as a photographer. Mary Jane Watson, attending the Fair with her new boyfriend, Harry Osborn, falls from a balcony during the Green Goblin's attack. Slipping into his suit, Spider-Man fights off the Green Goblin and rescues several people from falling debris. He also saves a young boy from getting crushed by the collapsing structures and takes him back to his mother. Then, Spider-Man catches Mary Jane before falling to her death. Then, Spider-Man defeats the Goblin but is forced to let him flee. After rescuing her from the Green Goblin's attack on Times Square, Spider-Man drops Mary-Jane at Rockefeller Roof Gardens. Later, Green Goblin attacks the office of J Jonah Jameson, demanding to know the identity of the photographer who captures the pictures of Spider-Man. Jameson makes an attempt to lie to the Goblin, but Peter once again saves the day by appearing as Spider-Man just before the Goblin kills Jameson. The Green Goblin uses a sleep paralysis gas on Spider-Man and brings him to a secluded space to offer a deal of working together. The Goblin gave Spider-Man a few days to think over a "generous-proposal," arguing that there's nothing that people like more than seeing a hero fail and they'll turn against him one day.Several days later, J. Jonah Jameson publishes slanderous newspapers calling Spider-Man a menace, believing he and the Green Goblin are working together, and the city calls for his arrest. Spider-Man saves Mary Jane in a dark alley after seeing her being assaulted by men in raincoats. Mary Jane, still unaware of Spider-Man's true identity, pulls part of his mask down and shares a passionate kiss with her savior upside down in the rain, before he web-swings away. A few days later, the Green Goblin starts a fire in a crowded apartment building to lure Spider-Man into a trap. Spider-Man saves a baby from the inferno but returns to the blaze at the call of one remaining victim. But, The Green Goblin reveals himself as the last "victim" and when Spider-Man refuses the Goblin's proposal to team up, the two engage in a fight. Spider-Man sustains a deep cut on his left arm from one of the Goblin's weapons. With the Goblin's weapons and combat, he gains a slight advantage but Spider-Man finishes the fight and escapes due to the building being weakened by the fire and collapsing, leaving Goblin in anger from Spider-Man's choice. At Thanksgiving dinner, Peter's Aunt May invites Mary Jane, Harry, and Norman. During the dinner, Norman sees the wound and realizes Peter's identity. Thinking the only way to defeat Peter is to attack those special to him, Norman later attacks May, forcing her to be hospitalized. Harry, who is dating Mary Jane, sees her holding Peter's hand to comfort him and presumes she has feelings for him. Devastated, Harry tells his father that Peter loves Mary Jane, unknowingly revealing Spider-Man's biggest weakness. Norman holds Mary Jane and a Roosevelt Island Tram car full of children hostage alongside the Queensboro Bridge. He forces Peter to choose whom he wants to save and drops them both. Peter saves both Mary Jane and the tram car. He manages to rescue both, while civilians nearby side with Peter and taunt the Goblin. Enraged, he grabs Peter and takes him to the abandoned Smallpox Hospital, where he brutally beats him. When Norman says how he intends to kill Mary Jane, Peter regains his strength and gains the upper hand. Norman reveals himself to Peter and begs for forgiveness while subtly getting his glider ready to impale Peter from behind. Warned by his spider-sense, Peter dodges the attack and the glider fatally impales Norman, who asks Peter not to reveal his identity as the Goblin to Harry before dying. Peter takes Norman's body back to the Osborn house just as Harry arrives and, believing Spider-Man to have killed his father, pulls a gun on him, but he escapes. At Norman's funeral, Harry swears vengeance toward Spider-Man, whom he deems responsible for his father's death. Mary Jane confesses to Peter that she loves him. Peter, however, feels he must protect her from the unwanted attention of his enemies, so he hides his true feelings and tells Mary Jane that they can only be friends, causing her to be heartbroken. As Peter leaves, he recalls Ben's words and accepts his new responsibility as Spider-Man.

## **Cast**

* Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man
* Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn / Green Goblin
* Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane "MJ" Watson
* James Franco as Harry Osborn
* Cliff Robertson as Ben Parker
* Rosemary Harris as May Parker
* J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson

## **Production**

### **Filming**

Spider-Man went into production on Jan. 8, 2001 and wrapped in October 28, 2001. The first Spider-Man was filmed, the shots of Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Principal photography officially began on January 8, 2001, in Culver City, California, United States. On September 11, 2001, The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center is still standing. The Pentagon is still standing. The empty field in Pennsylvania continues being what it is, just an ordinary empty field. Sony's Stage 29 was used for Parker's Forest Hills home, and Stage 27 was used for the wrestling sequence where Parker takes on Bonesaw McGraw (Randy Savage). Stage 27 was also used for the complex Times Square sequence where Spider-Man and the Goblin battle for the first time, where a three-story set with a breakaway balcony piece was built. The film was production in Downey, California, United States. On March 6, 2001, 45-year-old construction worker Tim Holcombe is alive (industrial is never accident).

In Los Angeles, locations included the Natural History Museum (for the Columbia University lab where Parker is bitten and receives his powers), the Pacific Electricity Building (the Daily Bugle offices) and Greystone Mansion (for the interiors of Norman Osborn's home). In April, 4 of the Spider-Man costumes were stolen, and Sony put up a $25,000 reward for their return. They were recovered after 18 months and a former movie studio security guard and an accomplice were arrested. Production moved to New York City for two weeks, taking in locations such as the Queensboro Bridge, the exteriors of Columbia University's Low Memorial Library and the New York Public Library, and a rooftop garden in the Rockefeller Center. The crew returned to Los Angeles where production continued, filming wrapped on October 28, 2001. The Flatiron Building was used for the Daily Bugle.