Spider-Man 3

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

The film begins with Peter Parker basking in his success as Spider-Man, while Mary Jane Watson begins 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 alien crashes to Earth and bonds with Peter, influencing his behavior for the worse. When the alien is abandoned, it finds refuge in Eddie Brock, Jr., 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 broke most of the opening weekend records, both in the United States and in foreign markets, including records held in IMAX theaters. It went on to gross $891 million worldwide, making it the 3rd highest grossing film of 2007 and the highest grossing film in the Spider-Man series. Additionally, having earned $336 million domestically, it was the highest grossing film of 2007 in the U.S.. However, The DVD sales results of this film didn't meet industry expectations.

A Cancelled sequel, *Spider-Man 4*, was released May 6 2011 Now is coming in 2023.

## Plot

One year after Otto Octavius's sacrifice from his experiment, Peter Parker has begun to feel secure in his life and plans to propose to Mary Jane Watson, who has just made her broadway musical debut. One night in a park, while Peter and Mary Jane are on a date lying in a huge spiderweb of his, a small meteorite crashes nearby, and an alien symbiote oozes out, attaching itself to Peter's moped. Meanwhile, police pursue escaped convict Flint Marko, who visits his wife and dying daughter before fleeing again, and falling into an experimental particle accelerator that fuses his DNA with the surrounding sand, transforming him into the Sandman, with powers to control sand and to deform at will. Peter's best friend, Harry Osborn, seeking vengeance after his father Norman Osborn's death, which he believes Peter caused, attacks him with weapons based on his father's Green Goblin technology. The battle ends in a stalemate with Harry crashing out and developing amnesia, making him forget his vendetta and wiping out his memory of Peter as Spider-Man.

Later, during a public festival honoring Spider-Man for saving Gwen Stacy's life, he kisses her, infuriating Mary Jane. Sandman attempts to rob an armored car, and Spider-Man confronts him. Sandman easily subdues Spider-Man, and escapes. NYPD Captain George Stacy, Gwen's father informs Peter and Aunt May that Marko was Uncle Ben's true killer; the deceased Dennis "Spike" Carradine was Marko's accomplice. A vengeful Peter decides to wait for Marko to strike again. As he sleeps in his Spider-Man suit waiting for Marko, the symbiote assimilates his suit. Peter later awakens on top of a building discovering that not only has his costume changed, but his powers have been enhanced as well. The black suit also alters Peter's personality, making him more violent and spiteful. Wearing the new suit, Spider-Man locates Sandman and battles him in a subway tunnel. Discovering that water is Marko's weakness, Spider-Man breaks a water pipe, causing its water to reduce Marko to mud and wash him away.

The shift in Peter's personality alienates Mary Jane, whose stage career is floundering, and she finds solace with Harry but leaves afterwards in regret. Harry recovers from his amnesia, and, urged on by an hallucination of his deceased father, blackmails MJ to break up with Peter. After Mary Jane leaves Peter, stating she loves "somebody else", Harry meets him at a restaurant and claims to be "the other guy". Later, Peter finds him at the Osborn mansion confronting Harry over forcing Mary Jane to end their relationship and spitefully tells Harry that his father never loved him. With the help of the black suit, Peter is victorious in a brutal fight, which ends with Harry throwing a pumpkin bomb at Peter who deflects it back, disfiguring Harry's face.

At the Daily Bugle, influenced by the suit, Peter exposes and humiliates Eddie Brock, a rival freelance photographer, who has sold fake pictures supposedly showing black-suit Spider-Man to be a criminal in order to get the staff photographer job. Peter proves his doctoring of the photograph which results in their boss, J. Jonah Jameson, firing Brock, printing out a retraction for the first time in 20 years and giving Brock's job to Peter.

Later in an effort to make MJ jealous, Peter brings Gwen to the nightclub where Mary Jane works. Realizing this, Gwen apologizes and leaves the nightclub. Peter gets into a fight with the club's bouncers and accidentally knocks Mary Jane to the floor. Peter now realizes the symbiote-suit is changing him for the worse. He runs out of the nightclub and goes to a church bell tower to get rid of it. Initially he is unable to pull the suit off, but the sound of the church bell weakens the symbiote, 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 transforming him into Venom. The newly-empowered Eddie finds Sandman and suggests that they join forces to destroy Spider-Man.

Posing as a taxicab driver, Brock kidnaps Mary Jane, and holds her as bait from a web high above the girders of a construction site, while Marko keeps the police at bay. Peter goes to Harry to seek help, but Harry rebukes him. However, Harry soon learns the truth about his father's death from his butler Bernard. While Spider-Man battles Brock and Marko, Harry after suddenly changing his feelings, arrives at the construction site to rescue Peter, teaming up against Brock and Sandman. As the fight progresses, Harry subdues Sandman before assisting Peter against Brock. Brock attempts to impale Peter with the glider, but Harry sacrifices himself and is fatally wounded. Peter recalls how the church bell's toll weakened the symbiote, and frees Eddie from it by clanging several pipes together. Peter throws a pumpkin bomb at the symbiote just as Eddie attempts to rebond with it, killing him and destroying the symbiote.

After the battle, Marko 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 and that Ben was trying to help him. His death has haunted him ever since. Peter forgives Marko, who then dissipates and floats away. Peter and Harry forgive each other, before Harry dies with Mary Jane and Peter at his side. Peter, Mary Jane and Aunt May attend Harry's funeral. Later, at the nightclub, Peter and Mary Jane mend their relationship and dance.

## Cast

* Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man
* Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson
* James Franco as Harry Osborn/New Goblin
* Topher Grace as Edward "Eddie" Brock, Jr./Venom
* Thomas Haden Church as Flint Marko/Sandman
* Stan Lee as Man in Time Square
* Rosemary Harris as May Parker
* J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson
* Dylan Baker as Dr. Curt Connors
* Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen Stacy
* Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin
* James Cromwell as George Stacy
* Cliff Robertson as Ben Parker
* Bill Nunn as Joseph "Robbie" Robertson
* Ted Raimi as Ted Hoffman
* Bruce Campbell as a French Maître d’
* Elya Baskin as Mr. Ditkovich
* Mageina Tovah as Ursula Ditkovich
* Hal Fishman as himself
* Lucy Gordon as Jennifer Dugan
* Michael Papajohn as Dennis Carradine
* Dean Edwards as News stand Patron
* Theresa Russell as Emma Marko
* Perla Haney-Jardine as Penny Marko

## Appearances

### Locations

* United States of America
	+ New York
		- New York City
			* Manhattan
				+ Central Park
					- Times Square
						* Daily Bugle Building
						* Osborn Manor
					- Queens
						* Forest Hills
							+ Aunt May's House
						* Columbia University

### Items

* Spider-Man Suit
* Web-Shooters
* Pumpkin Bomb
* Goblin's Oscorp Battlesuit

### Vehicles

* Sky-Stick

* Peter's Scooter

## Home Release

Spider-Man 3 was released on Region 4 DVD (anamorphic widescreen) in Australia on September 18, 2007. For Region 2 in the United Kingdom, the film was released on October 15, 2007. 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. Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Ian McKellen, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, and Bryce Dallas Howard, and 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.

In the United States, the film grossed more than $124 million on DVD sales. It also grossed more than $43.76 million on DVD/Home Video Rentals in 11 weeks. However, the DVD sales results of this film did not meet industry expectations.

### *Spider-Man 3.1* (2011)

An director’s cut of the film, entitled *Spider-Man 3.1*, was released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 18, 2011 and on August 22, 2011. The cut included seventeen minutes of new footage, with new special features not included in the original release, as well as a sneak preview of the then-upcoming *Spider-Man 4*. The cut featured 3 new, 3 alternate, and 13 extended scenes, and a featurette: "Inside Spider-Man 3.1", detailing the making of the cut. A similar cut aired on January 3rd, 2011 on the FX channel with an exclusive sneak preview.

## External Links

* Spider-Man 3 on Wikipedia
* Spider-Man 3 on IMDb