Spider-Man 2 is a 2004 American superhero film directed by Sam Raimi and written by Alvin Sargent from a story by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and Michael Chabon. Based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name, it is the second installment in Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and the sequel to Spider-Man (2002), starring Tobey Maguire alongside Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfred Molina, Rosemary Harris, and Donna Murphy. Set two years after the events of Spider-Man, the film finds Peter Parker struggling to stop Dr. Otto Octavius from recreating the dangerous experiment that kills his wife and leaves him neurologically fused to mechanical tentacles, while also dealing with an existential crisis between his dual identities that appears to be stripping him of his powers.
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Principal photography began in April 2003 in New York City and also took place in Los Angeles. Reshoots took place later that year and concluded in December. Spider-Man 2 was released in both conventional and IMAX theaters on June 30, 2004. It received widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its emotional weight and visual effects, as well as Maguire and Molina's performances and Raimi's direction, and grossed $789 million worldwide, making it the third-highest-grossing film of the year. The film won Best Visual Effects at the 77th Academy Awards, and was also nominated for Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing; furthermore, it received five awards at the Saturn Awards, including Best Fantasy Film and Best Director for Raimi. The film is widely regarded as one of the greatest superhero films ever made and a blueprint for future movies in the genre.[a] Its success led to Spider-Man 3 (2007).
Immediately after finishing Spider-Man, director Sam Raimi with help from James Keltie signed into directing a sequel.[37] In April 2002, Sony hired Smallville alumni, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar to write a script of the film.[38] On May 8, 2002, following Spider-Man's record-breaking $115 million opening weekend, Sony Pictures announced a sequel for 2004.[39] Entitled The Amazing Spider-Man, after the character's main comic book title,[40] the film was given a budget of $200 million[41] and aimed for a release date of May 7, 2004. The following month, David Koepp was added to co-write with Gough and Millar.[38] Koepp originally wanted to do the Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn story and have Gwen to be killed in the middle of the second movie.[42]
In September 2002, Michael Chabon was hired to rewrite.[38] His draft had a younger Doc Ock, who becomes infatuated with Mary Jane. His mechanical limbs use endorphins to counteract the pain of being attached to his body, which he enjoys. When he injures two muggers on a date, this horrifies Mary Jane and in the resulting battle with Spider-Man his tentacles are fused together, and the fusion begins to kill him. In the script, Octavius is the creator of the genetically-altered spider from the first film, and gives Peter an antidote to remove his powers: this means when Octavius is dying with his tentacles, he wants to extract Spider-Man's spine to save himself. This leads to an alliance with Harry (a detail which made it into the finished film). Beforehand, Harry and the Daily Bugle put a $10 million price on Spider-Man's head, causing the city's citizens to turn against him.[43][44]
Although roughly the same as before, costume designer James Acheson made numerous subtle changes to Spider-Man's costume. Its colors were made richer and bolder, its spider emblem was given more elegant lines and enlarged, its eye-lenses were somewhat smaller, and its muscle suit underneath was made into pieces, to give a better sense of movement. Also, the helmet Maguire wore under his mask was also improved, with better movement for the false jaw and magnetic eyepieces, which were easier to remove.[37]
The first teaser trailer was shown at screenings of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.[74] The next trailer then premiered on April 8, 2004 during The Apprentice and in theaters with the release of The Alamo the day after.[75]
The film was initially released on DVD and VHS on November 30, 2004 in United States, in Australia on November 17, and in the UK on November 26. The DVD was available in both anamorphic widescreen and Pan-and-scan "fullscreen", as well as a Superbit edition and in a box-set with the first film. The film was also the first Sony Pictures movie released in the US under the Sony Pictures Home Entertainment banner,[77] and one of the final titles released outside of North America under the Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment name. There was also a collector's DVD gift set including a reprint of The Amazing Spider-Man #50.[78] The DVD release sold 11,604,597 units and grossed $174,260,344 in the United States.[79] The film was also released on Sony's proprietary Universal Media Disc (UMD) format in 2005, with 1 million UMD copies of the film sold in the United States as part of a PlayStation Portable (PSP) bundle.[80] The film received a novelization written by Peter David.[81] The film was released on Blu-ray in October 2007 as a part of the Spider-Man: The High Definition Trilogy box set.[82] It was also released separately on Blu-ray in November 2010 as well as the previous film as part of Sony's Blu-ray Essentials Collection including both the theatrical release and the 2.1 extended cut.[citation needed] All three films were re-released on Blu-ray as part of the Spider-Man: Origins set in 2017.[83]
Chicago Tribune gave the film three and a half stars out of four, and Mark Caro stated that Alfred Molina was a "pleasingly complex" villain, and the film as a whole "improves upon its predecessor in almost every way."[105] Kenneth Turan, of the Los Angeles Times, gave the film four stars out of five and concurred with Caro when he stated, "Doc Ock grabs this film with his quartet of sinisterly serpentine mechanical arms and refuses to let go."[106] Roger Ebert gave Spider-Man 2 four stars out of four, calling it "the best superhero movie since the modern genre was launched with Superman (1978)", and praising the film for "effortlessly [combining] special effects and a human story, keeping its parallel plots alive and moving."[107] He later called it the fourth best film of 2004."[108] IGN's Richard George felt "Sam Raimi and his writing team delivered an iconic, compelling version of Spider-Man's classic foe... We almost wish there was a way to retroactively add some of these elements to the original character."[109] In 2016, James Charisma of Playboy ranked the film #9 on a list of "15 Sequels That Are Way Better Than The Originals".[110] Conversely, J. Hoberman, of The Village Voice, thought the first half of the film was "talky bordering on tiresome", with the film often stopping to showcase Raimi's idea of humor.[111]
At the 77th Academy Awards, Spider-Man 2 won Best Visual Effects (John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara and John Frazier), and was nominated for Best Sound Mixing (Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Joseph Geisinger) and Best Sound Editing along with The Polar Express, but lost to Ray and The Incredibles, respectively.[119] The film won Saturn Awards for Best Actor, Best Director, Best Fantasy Film, Best Special Effects, and Best Writer, while being nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Best Music.[120] It was nominated for two British Academy Film Awards for Special Visual Effects and Sound, but lost to The Day After Tomorrow and Ray, respectively.[121] The American Film Institute (AFI) listed the film as one of the 2004's ten best films,[122] and nominated it for positions on the lists of the top 10 fantasy films,[123] the 100 most inspiring American films,[124] and the 100 greatest American films.[125]
To coincide with the film's release, a video game of the same name was released for the Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 and Xbox on June 28, 2004.[142][143] Releases on the PlayStation Portable, N-Gage, and Nintendo DS systems would follow.[143][144] An action-adventure video game, it serves as a sequel to the Spider-Man: The Movie (2002). Published by Activision, the console versions were developed by Treyarch, but the other versions had different developers.[143] The console versions and handheld versions of Spider-Man 2 were well received, with the exception of the PC/Mac version.[145] Upon launch, the game had shipped more than 2 million units in North America by July 7, 2004.[142]
Topps (aka The Topps Company, Inc.) got the license for the 2002 Spider-Man movie, but the rights for the "Spider-Man 2" movie sequel in 2004 went to Upper Deck Entertainment, and they produced this small set with 70 basic cards featuring scenes from the movie. The packs were small at 5 cards, with 24 packs per box.
A new Spider-Man 4 behind-the-scenes image reveals an up-close look at what would have been John Malkovich's costume as Vulture, the film's planned villain. After first playing the character in 2002's Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire returned for two sequels with director Sam Raimi, including the acclaimed Spider-Man 2 in 2004 and the divisive Spider-Man 3 in 2007. Despite the lukewarm reception to Spider-Man 3, a fourth film from Raimi was in the works but Sony eventually shelved the project. Details regarding the scrapped Spider-Man movie have emerged in recent years, revealing that Malkovich was slated to play a very dark version of the Vulture.
Spider-Man 2GalleryTitleSpider-Man 2 (video game)Release DateJune 28, 2004 (GC, PC, PS2 & XboxNA)July 9, 2004 (GC, PC, PS2 & XboxPAL)September 30, 2004 (GC, PC, PS2 & XboxJP)Game Boy AdvanceJune 29, 2004 (NA)July 9, 2004 (PAL)N-GageJuly 6, 2004 (NA)July 2004 (PAL)Mac/PCAugust 16, 2004 (NA)Nintendo DSNovember 16, 2004 (NA)January 6, 2005 (JP)February 24, 2005 (AUS)March 11, 2005 (EU)PlayStation PortableMarch 15, 2005 (NA)September 1, 2005 (PAL)October 26, 2006 (JP)DetailsDeveloper(s)Treyarch, The Fizz Factor, Vicarious Visions, Digital Eclipse, Backbone Entertainment, Aspyr MediaPublisher(s)Activision, MacPlayWriter(s)Matthew Rhoades, Rodney GibbsModesSingle-playerRatingsCERO: AESRB: TESRB: E (PC)OFLC: MOFLC: PG (GBA, DS)PEGI: 12+PEGI: 7+ (DS)PEGI: 3+ (GBA)Previous and Next GamesPreviousNextSpider-Man(April 14, 2002)Spider-Man 3(May 4, 2007) 2ff7e9595c
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