that the first Spider-Man had more admissions during its first seven days than The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will reach in total. I don't just post this to bash TASM2 (only a little), but also to point out once again, how huge of a success the first Spider-Man was and how much inherent potential the franchise atcually has if all goes right. In fact, each of Raimi's Spider-Man films' 7-day-gross adjusts to more than what The Amazing Spider-Man 2 wlll hit in total.

To put this more into perspective and not just against The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - each of Raimi's three Spider-Man films' 10-day-rosses adjust to more than what Captain America 2 or X-Men: Days of Future Past will get in total. Hell, even the consistently bashed Spider-Man 3 adjusts to almost $390 million doemstically in total. How could Sony blow such a franchise that obviously was hugely beloved by North American audienfces to a degree that I'd argue only The Avengers and Nolan's Batman have been beloved since then (I don't include Iron Man because I still think that Iron Man 3's breakout was mosly The Avengers' effect).

They rebooted it too quickly and didn't bring anything new to the story. And people obviously liked Raimi movies more.

The reboot did come out too early and TASM2 looked really bad from marketing perspective.

The Raimi Spider-Man movies were the first of the new millenium superhero movies - - there was a pent up demand.

It was a different era. Spider Man was the first "real" superhero. Made for the masses and what not.

It will never capture that again.

I'm sure similar comparisons can be made about the Hobbit against LOTR.

Yeah I agree that the pent up demand for a big 4 quadrant Spidey film was sky high back then. Remember also that the Batman franchise was ruined and Superman was dead. X Men and Blade helped wet the appetite for a (marvel) comic book film resurgence.

Spidey had been in development he'll for decades (James Cameron wanted to make his version for years) so the anticipation was there.

It also benefited from the patriotic fervour sweeping the US in the wake of 911 and its escapist nature made it the obvious choice. In its year it defeated Star Wars and LOTR films - a huge achievement.

So it was a perfect storm that circled a great product.

Having said that - the idiots at Sony should never have rebooted. They should have continued the saga - even with me actors or characters (Gwen) and a good film or two would have erased the stench of Spidey 3.

Better still - give Spider back to Marvel.

BTW - that OD and OW (and second weekend hold) is still the most memorable BO story ever for me (after Titanic's run perhaps). Stunning.

Even in Germany SPIDER-MAN was huuuuge (and this has nothing to do with 9/11) with 5.2m admissions - TASM2 is down to 1.1m admissions...

Pent-up demand, okay, but by the time Spider-Man 3 came around, there was no such pent-up demand anymore and yet it was unbelievably huge despite facing two $300+ million grossers in the same month and having mediocre reviews.

The thing is - those films had that "event movie" feeling that was completely lost with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 amidst its over-exposure.

I still remember going to BOM not expecting any numbers, and when I did see that number I was all x50.

Yes genuine shock!!! Miss those days!

Yep.That was my single biggest WOW moment in all the xears of following the box-office.

I agree it was a prestige franchise off the back of the epic first and even better second film.

The combo of Spidey 3 + reboot really killed it.

That said I enjoyed TASM but havnt bothered with TASm2

The Raimi movies are kind of shit, though. I never understood the praise for them.

Agree with Gez here they should have continued the trilogy that would have still kept its luster. Right now the casual audience are still very confused and the new movies are coming in Fast and Furious.

I agree with Algren. Also, Tobey, not a good Spidey.

Oddly, the most shocking number for me was THE MUMMY RETURNS' OD. Something about that $24m estimate was so staggering that even SPIDER-MAN's numbers felt more like an evolution than a revolution to me.

Yeah, Spider-Man and Shrek 2 felt like the only record-holders for single-day gross in the past 20+ years that weren't already expected to break the record leading up to their release.

And of course SM hit first and the shock over Shrek 2's record Saturday was mitigated by the fact that we'd already been given indication of it from its Friday number.

Exactly

[quote

Maybe Sony should do some stunt-casting and hire Tobey Maguire as a villain in TASM3 or TASM4...

I think Maguire won't do it. I wonder if the Sinister Six film will really happen now.

My biggest shocking BO moment I can remember was Dead Man's Chest.

It's kinda weird that they don't even have a release date for it yet even with a director attached. I imagine a 2017 release date is most likely (between TASM3 and TASM4), but I wonder if TASM3 falling even more could start to scare them about this whole world-building thing.

They've got the keep those budgets under control.