So I saw Spiderman...

[JediBoricua]

and what's the big deal?

Sure it's a cool movie, it has nice effects, and will make a lot of millions. But it stands nowhere near any of the SW movies, not even TPM.

The action is top notch, it truly has the comic book feel. Spidey always find the crooks, how he does it? spider sense I guess. The Daily Bugle editor is a great character, but he is kind of left behind in the middle of the movie and we don't hear more of him.

The Green Goblin is a great villain, although I would have enjoyed if his relationship with Spider-Man had been a lot closer, like it was on the fox cartoon (I have not read much of his comics).

The effects are great, and the web-slinging is exhilirating.

The big BUT in the movie is the romance between Mari Jane and Peter Parker. It was too smuchy smuchy, and the love declarations lasted forever (it can be misery to watch toby mcguire's big blue eyes for over 5 minutes saying how much spidey "loves" MJ). They halted the film and made me loose the tempo. On the comics it is more of a slow falling in love, of course that is understandable since you have a much longer time frame in which to work, on the movie it feels a bit cramped. One moment she is the g/f of Peter's best friend, the next she is kissing Spidey under the rain (cool scene btw).

The ending will lead to a sequel, and the story will get more complex, which IMO is a good thing.

Out of 5 stars I can give it 4, maybe 3 and half if I had not gotten good seats.

It's a fun movie that fans and not so big fans like myself will enjoy, but worry not for our Star Wars dominance this summer is secure.

[JMK]

I really don't think it mattered how good (or bad) Spider Man is, Star Wars is going to rule the summer's box office regardless of what happens. Its like trying to stop a hurricane, it can't be done, so let it wreck everything in its path and just admire its power. :) Spider Man is just the warm up, and everything else after AotC is dessert.

[Shawn]

I dunno... Spiderman was sold completely sold out for the rest of the night by the time I got to the theater. That's pretty impressive. Not that it's going to top SW - not by any stretch of the imagination. But it is going to creme just about everything else.

[Taylor Millard]

Spider-Man will hold me out for two weeks until Ep II comes out. It by far is the first blockbuster (maybe second with Scorpion King doing so well). Will Ep II top it? Dur! 'Course it will. But Spidey's a great film with a great cast (Willem Dafoe is perfect as the villain).

It's a buy for me :)

[Jedi Master Carr]

I think Spiderman will do well maybe 230-250 somewhere in that range but it will probably end up 4th this year behind AOTC, LOTR, and HP but hey all those three films should (or come close) to cracking 300 million so 4th is not bad this year.

[Marcus Telcontar]

Ebert gave Spiderman a quite negative review.

I really have my doubts Spiderman will have legs of any great value. After one weekend, it will fall pretty hard I think - seems to be a fluffy movie and nothing really to draw people back

[CMJ]

Nah...it wasn't really a negative review, it was rreally mixed I thought. Overall though, "Spiderman" has been getting really good reviews...surprisingly good actually.

[JMK]

Star Wars aside, its going to be interesting to see how good the legs are on the movies that come out this year. Of course the end of the year is also pretty slow with only 2 movies to overpower everyone else.

[Super Wookiee]

Spiderman might carck 100 million in a single weekend, but i bet it has trouble reaching 200 million........just watch it drop like a rock, like every movie last summer. Its numbers are mostly a result of a hight screen count and over hype. I saw it last night and honestly it was not that good. The web slinging looked cheesy and the green goblin looke like something strait out of The Power Rangers.


Mary Jane was nice to look at though, lol

[Darth23]

To be fair. Any movie with such a huge opening will have a bigger than normal drop. Critics like it, and judging by Yahoo.movies and Cinemascore audiences like it as well, so I think it will hold its own. I give it about am 8.5/10 myself, and I'll go see it once more, at least.


Even if drops 50% after a $100 million opening that's still $50 million in weekend number two. :eek

I don't think it's too early to predict a finish at least in the $300 million range.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Still I don't know it should make 250 300, who knows, POTA and RH2 both opened huge and didn't make it to 300 hundred, heck POTA didn't make it to 200, sure Spiderman is a better movie than POTA but there is also a limited audience out there and I don't see a lot of repeat buisness then you have Star Wars coming out two weeks later I predict it will drop 50% two straight weeks and I now think it will make somewhere between 250-280 which is still a great total, 300 will just be tough because of the competition.

Also I will give my review I liked it but I don't think it was the best comic book movie ever (I still think Superman 2 holds that) I think the effects were weak in a few places, and I never truly Defoe as Goblin, I did like Maguire he was excellent and the actor that played Jamieson was great I wish he was more in it. out of 4 I give 3.5 I still think though AOTC will blow it away.

[JonathanLB]

There is no doubt the effects were stunning. The trailers could have left SOME doubt, but the film itself had perfect visual effects. No flaws whatsoever and they didn't look CG in the slightest. It may as well have been a guy on a rope swinging around on blue screen because either way you wouldn't know. The movie has very few effects, IMO, it's far more about the story. I mean what effects it does have are pretty minor...

It will easily KILL Harry Potter and the second LOTR film. Basically nobody liked the first HP movie, it sucked, and so did the effects. I don't know what idiotic company did their effects but they were worse than anything you'd see on TV. Ever. The movie was a bomb by critical standards and according to what people actually thought of it. It had no staying power at all. People loved LOTR, people loved TPM, which is why both franchises are poised for great part II's. People love Spider-Man and its sequel will do awesome.

I though the movie was great, even better than X-Men, which I saw 4 times in theaters. It's an A+ and that's my professional opinion.

Which reminds me, a New York radio station contacted me about my Website three days ago and wants to have me on air for an interview! I really hope it works out, it'd be a great plug for the site. :)

[Jedi Master Carr]

I don't know if it will get nominated for sFX I personally doubt it, a lot of people that know effects say the CGI was weak and there were a few times (not often and it really didn't hurt the film) that I could tell and believe me the nods are decided by people who know effects and they will see the mistakes I think LOTR, AOTC and one other film could be Ring of Fire if the effect are as good as they look in the trailers.

[CMJ]

What Jonathan? I have to comment..."nobody liked the first HP movie, it sucked, and so did the effects. "

I know alot of people who liked it.

"I don't know what idiotic company did their effects but they were worse than anything you'd see on TV. Ever. "

Have you SEEN some of the crappy special effects on made for TV flicks?! "Potter" had okay effects..nothing great...but there are so much better than stuff on TV it's not even funny.

"The movie was a bomb by critical standards and according to what people actually thought of it. It had no staying power at all."

It had a 79% approval ratng on rottentomatoes, which is hardly a bomb by any standards. It did what 90M it's opening weekend and ended up just north of 317M. So roughly it did 30% of it's total gross on it's opening weekend. While that is not a great number...it's not bad either. I'd say it normal, maybe even slightly above normal.

[Marcus Telcontar]

I liked HP.

It was a good, not a great movie. I concur with CMJ, critial bomb?!?! WHAT???? The critics generally liked HP! Some even raved!

By ANY standards, Harry Potter did damn well, especially overseas. I would suggest your opinion THAT HP was crap, you are in the minority Jonathon.

Edit : Changed a word so my intention of speech was clearer

[CMJ]

LOL....his opinion isn't crap(I have to preface that with NOBODY'S opinion can be crap, because it's an opinion), but I have to say it didn't seem well founded.

On a personal note I think I liked the film a tad more than Marcus seemed to. It wasn't great by any stretch...mostly because the last third was weak(got too into the kid flick realm for me). I thought the first two thirds were actually quite engaging, I was fairly shocked as I wasn't expecting much.

[Shawn]

It will easily KILL Harry Potter and the second LOTR filmLOL. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. It had a great opening day because the big ol' marketing machine was working overtime. But, despite the lack of advertising for The Two Towers, it's going to be huge.

[Morgan Evanar]

Spiderman was an excellent comic book movie (perhaps only truly surpased by the original Batman and The Fifth Element), with very solid direction, good cinematography, a vastly superior score (Ahhh, Elfman) some decent acting, and special effects that fit the movie perfectly. I wasn't too fond of the costuming done on the Green Goblin... but thats my opinion and I can forgive that.

However, Spidey webslinging was poety in motion. They got that so right. I agree that Harry's character felt underdeveloped and wooden, which was unfortunate. The other characters (Peter, MJ, Aunt May, Uncle Ben and Harvy Oswald) felt much more complete, if somewhat stereotypical. However, the stereotyping is very easy to ignore considering the movie's base, which is a comic book.

I hope, in the sequel, Harry's revenging is more of a backstory to the Venom/Spidey conflict. Venom is so gfidimint cool.

I think it will dowell in the box office, probably ~$275 mil.

[Super Wookiee]

Well I agree that HP sucked ass. But thats just me. I'm not gonna try and give any reasons, because someone is bound to think othewise on every single point.


I think the final numbers on Spidy won't be very impressive. There is such a demand to see movies opening night now, but the movie going audience is not really any bigger for this movie than any other blockbuster. But oh well. We'll find out what kind of staying power its gonna have by next weekend, because May16 this movie won't even be and after thought.

[Charley]

Once again, I can't broker a spiderman opinion. I have absolute zero interest in the franchise. Its like Captain America. Yeah he's a superhero, but not one that I really care about. Same for the upcoming Hulk movie. I'm hoping to take my mom to see spidey before I leave for California...cause she loves Spidey, and its a good mothers day present.

But, with 40+ million on opening day...um, yeah, this sucker's gonna make more than 300 million. I'll bet the farm on that.

As far as Harry Potter....YAWN! I want my three hours back. Whoever recommended that one to me should be taken to a Siberian gulag.

[Shawn]

Mmm... the Spidey comics were usually a good read. Except that whole clone nonsense. Hulk = Zero Interest, from me.

[darth_mcbain]

I though the movie was good, but nothing really special. The story was pretty decent, and the principal actors were all good, but I just feel it could have been a little better. There were a few scenes where it lost a little momentum, especially in the scene where Peter tells MJ about Spiderman's feelings. There were also a few times where I thought it decended into some corny lines. I had actually expected that going in, but was pleasantly surprised that I didn't seen any at first. Unfortunately, it did resort to a few corny parts, but nothing too bad.

I thought the effects were really good, with the exception of some of the swinging. Not all of it, but there were a few scenes where it seemed to be pretty fake. But, you could also chalk that up to the fact that I got to the theater late and was in the first row... My neck still hurts... :(

I think it will do well, but once SW comes out I think it will really drop fast.

[Jedi Master Carr]

hope, in the sequel, Harry's revenging is more of a backstory to the Venom/Spidey conflict. Venom is so gfidimint cool

Rumor has it will be Doc Ock and The Lizard, I really want to see Ock he is a great villain, the problem with Venom is New Line has the rights to a Venom movie and who knows if they can get it from them. My main complaint is I wish Spacey would have played Goblin he would have been great, they actually wanted him for the part but he turned it down (he doesn't want to play villains anymore) Defoe just doesn't measure up to the other great villains in comic book films (Hackman's Luthor and Nicholson's Joker and even Mckellan's Magneto I thought he was brilliant in that role) I am kind of curious who they would pick for Ock there was an old rumor of Arnold (please god no) can't think of anybody else off hand maybe Dennis Hopper, Dustin Hoffman, he will be tough to cast, The Lizard though will have to be CGI.

[Beldarine]

Hmmm.. Let me see.. as an ex-comic book junkie.. I'll weigh in on this subject.. (I read Batman and XMen religiously as a child.. never read Spiderman or Superman)..

Superman Movies: Ok.. I am an NEOROTIC fan of the series "Smallville" -- one of the only shows worth turning on my TV for. So I figured... Superman movies.. They should be a good watch, since I never saw them as a child. Boy, was I wrong. I turned off the first one in about 30 minutes.. after fast forwarding thru most of the crap. They stunk.. Thumbs down..

Batman -- First one was awesome... absolutely amazing... Second one ok.. But once Joel Schumacher starting directing... man it was all downhill. Batman was supposed to be a DARK movie.. Not what Schumacher turned it into -- a three ring circus.

Spawn -- Cool movie... I love his cloak.. Very Ebil.

XMen -- Absolutely great... Ranked right up there with Batman.

Which, at last, brings me to Spiderman.. I was surprised at how dark the storyline was. Since I never read the comic books, I didn't know Peter Parker's background.. but what he went thru is enough to make ol'Spidey more of a Batman-esqe type hero..

I thought this movie was amazing.. ranking right up there with the first Batman, and even surpassing XMen. They did a great job with every aspect of the story (well.. except for the fact they took out the WTC.. Come on guys, we can't forget they existed altogether.)..

I never saw Harry Potter.. so I'll forgo comment...

I think Spiderman will gross around 300$ M... but it will drop off once AOTC comes out..

I think some people might be surprised by what AOTC might do. For TPM you couldn't buy tickets from a scalper for a midnight showing around Orlando.. This time half the theaters arent' even having "midnight" shows... No interest they say... And to prove my point, I found two tickets for a theater in Orlando for the midnight showing of AOTC.. today..

Opening weekend might be a little disappointing for hard core fans.

[Jedieb]

I grew up reading Spiderman comics. They were some of my favorite. I loved Spidey's attitude and his sense of humor. The villians were great and I just loved the the way the character fought them. Throughout the 80's when I was in HS I was never dissapointed by a Spidey comic. When I was in college I got into Batman when Frank Miller came out with The Dark Knight. By the time I got back to checking in on Spidey they were in that whole clone storyline. Scarlet Spider, Kane, etc, I thought the storyline was rather dull. When they tried to pass off Spidey as a clone of Peter Parker and not the real Spiderman I lost complete interest alltogether. I thought that was a disaster. I have absolutely no idea what they ever did with that storyline, I was that disappointed. Last I heard, Mary Jane was missing and presumed dead. Don't care much about that storyline either.

What I like about this movie is that it's an origin movie. Spidey has a great origin so that should help this movie. I hope they don't make the same mistake that the Batman movies made. I'm not talking about going camp, I'm talking about multiple villians. You don't need to keep trying to top yourself. Doc Oc is more than enough, you don't need to throw another famous villian. The possibilities with Venom are endless. You don't even need to throw in Carnage or any of the other symbiotes, at least I think I remember there were a few others. Anyway, I can't wait to see it on Saturday.

[JMK]

I guess 300M is pretty far off, but quite doable. Is there enough time for it to make up most of the ground before AotC comes out? I think there may be, but is there anything else coming out to challenge it?

I'd like to see Sandman make it into the movies. Given what they've done with sand in the Mummy movies, I think they could do some really cool stuff with him.

[Jedieb]

I hadn't thought of Sandman, he'd be awesome as well. Spidey's second weekend will tell us how long it will take him to get to $300M. Giving Spidey 2 weekends without AOTC is looking like a stroke of genius. It'll probably end up helping BOTH films if you think about it. Spidey will get a second weekend to itself, and AOTC will face a two week old Spidey with a bit of box office wear on him. Both sides will do well.

[Darth23]

Spidey Spoiler:

I was surprised that they took the Death of the Green Goblin sequence and used it - It came from the Death of Gwen(Sniff) Stacy story line that happened when I was readign Spiderman. I knew excactly what was coming and it was still pretty cool.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I agree Jedieb it was brilliant stragety and both movies will succeed. I don't think AOTC box office will be a disapointment though. I think it will have a huge 4 day weekend. How big who knows yet, I also think it will be the #1 movie of the year, I still think LOTR will finish Second with either HP2 or Spiderman right behind.
As far as Spidey Villians they say they are going with both Doc Ock and the Lizard, it could work because the Lizard could just be a ragging villain being used by Ock to try to kill Spiderman, as long as they keep Ock as the mastermind they will be fine. I would also like to see a cameo villain in the beginning of the film maybe Mysterio or maybe Sandman, or Shocker somebody like that who can then be arrested. What I don't understand though there is also talk of the Black Cat joining the cast. Wouldn't that be hard to do The Black Cat is a complex character (she is one of Parker's former girlfriends Felicia Hardy who somehow got superpowers no clue how, in the cartoon it was the Captain America Super Solider formula not sure what it really was) Maybe they could have Ock do experements on her but still that would be a lot to explain unless they have no Lizard because I don't think you could have all three unless you want to do a three hour movie.

Also I agree with you Jedieb about the comics towards the end the whole clone thing stunk it destroyed Spiderman's popularity, they tried to undo it by bringing back Osborn (even though he was impalled the gas gave him regenerative powers much like Wolverine) and saying he was behind it all and the scarlet Spider was really a clone created by him, it really didn't work too well still but at least it got things back to somewhat normal, this was the same time that Marvel was doing all kind of stupid stuff, Iron Man went postal and was killed (the avengers brought some alternative version of him) they killed off Dr. Doom and Reed Richards though they changed it all and said some other supervillain saved them and brought them to another reality. And then there was the whole Onslaught thing where Wolverine lost his admantine, Xavier went crazy and Magneto went missing. Then Onslaught destroyed all the heroes excpet Spiderman, the Hulk and the X-Men but Reen Richards' son saved them all and put them into another universe but of course they finally came back As far as Spiderman now I think Mary Jane is back, have no clue what happened there, but it wouldn't surprise me if Osborn wasn't behind the whole thing. They have made that man too powerful and evil I have no clue why he is not Dr. Doom (who is the greatest Super villain in Marvel they need to put him in a movie and quick.)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

OMG, put a paragraph break in there! ;)

I am here only to tell Loungie, the Green Goblin drinks Maker's Mark. C'mon, see the movie! :D I've seen it twice, LOVED it both times. And the opening numbers this weekend were very impressive.

[Jedieb]

Thanks for the recap JMC! Holy crap that's a convuluted storyline. But comics can't really help it. You've got decades worth of storytelling wrapped into a few years span. Spidey was a teenager in the sixties but 40 years later he's only aged to his what, late 20's, early 30's? You just can't keep everything in one nice straight line. I'm at the point now where I just pick up the occasional graphic novel if it strikes my interest. There's no point in trying to keep up. Osborne is back, that's just lame. Let the man die!

[Jedi Master Carr]

I know and I haven't really kept up with it too much most that I have learned from a Marvel book they published a few years ago that detailed the histories of all the comic book characters. As far as Osborn I think they brought him back to fix the clone crap they created but it made things more confusing I think plus it made Osborn bigger than he ever was that was my problem with it, bringing him back didn't surprise me most comic book villains have died and come back again and again (The Joker, Lex Luthor, Dr. Doom, Magneto, etc) but making him look like a combination of Luthor and Doom was just a little too much he just was never that kind of villain that was the problem IMO with it. To me he was more like the Joker than a megalomanic.

[Jedieb]

That sounds like a cool book. Do you remember the name of it?

[Jedi Master Carr]

The illustrated history of Marvel (I think that is what it was called), I think they came out with a more recent volume but I am not sure, I only saw in my local library and I really liked it, next time I am there I might look for it and see if they still have it or have a more recent edition.

[Taylor Millard]

You know, I was thinking about it and we actually DO have to thank the Clone Saga for this movie.

Here's why...

Marvel needed a quick way out of the Clone Saga. As we all know, the Clone Saga sucked. It was horrible. I liked the Scarlet Spider, but hated everything else. Marvel needed something to fix this and fix it fast.

Hence, let's bring Norman Osbourne back. The Green Goblin became the most recognizable Spidey villain. Before that, it would have been Venom...and while they were able to do it with the Goblin, and Magneto...you can't tell all of Venom's story in one film...and if you did...I'm sorry, it would either not work or not be able to carry on to another movie.

What Marvel is doing now is setting up the sequel which films in January...and setting it up well. My main concern is that they'll bring Goblin back in this film. I would hate that (but still see the film).

Same reason why I'm ticked at X2 but will see it 'cause it'll be good. :)

And hey, I like Venom...but then you'd have the 'Batman syndrome' and having non-connected movies...and I love connected flicks.

If that makes sense.

[CMJ]

I was the last person in North America NOT to see this movie, but I FINALLY saw it yesterday at a double feature. Anyways, I was completely shocked how much I enjoyed "Spider-Man". Obviously I had very little interest in seeing it since it came out like 4 and a half months ago, and I wasn't expecting too much....

BUT it was really well acted I thought. Let me preface that by aying Maguire is one of my favorite "young" actors and Dunst is as well. The story really moved well...hell I even thought the love story was done well(except for the end declaration by Mary Jane). The effects were really good(not great, but way above average). Anyways, one of the better comic book films I've seen.

I'd say 3.5 stars out of 4.

[Darth23]

Originally posted by JMK
I really don't think it mattered how good (or bad) Spider Man is, Star Wars is going to rule the summer's box office regardless of what happens. Its like trying to stop a hurricane, it can't be done, so let it wreck everything in its path and just admire its power. :) Spider Man is just the warm up, and everything else after AotC is dessert.

doh!

;) :p

[Mu Satach]

:D

You know, I loved Spidey.

[JMK]

I guess my rash statement pretty much sums up how 90% of us here felt, huh?

[dbn]

IMO The Spiderman movie is total trash!

I could not believe how much people like it, I guess it shows how much Prozac is being takin' out there. There was no reason to cheer for Spiderman! He really did not thing great in the movie--unless helping getting his uncle killed is a wonderful thing to do these days, the f/x was very bad, the story was just too predictable, and very depressing. I could not watch and enjoy a movie for a while after Spiderman. I don't know why I seen it the way I did, and have this kind of effect on me, but that movie really made me sick for a while. I will not be seeing any sequels or take offs for Spiderman anytime soon.

[Quadinaros]

You lie. You love Spiderman. ;)

[Mu Satach]

Originally posted by dbn
IMO The Spiderman movie is total trash!

I could not believe how much people like it, I guess it shows how much Prozac is being takin' out there. There was no reason to cheer for Spiderman! He really did not thing great in the movie--unless helping getting his uncle killed is a wonderful thing to do these days, the f/x was very bad, the story was just too predictable, and very depressing. I could not watch and enjoy a movie for a while after Spiderman. I don't know why I seen it the way I did, and have this kind of effect on me, but that movie really made me sick for a while. I will not be seeing any sequels or take offs for Spiderman anytime soon.

Sounds like somebody needs to spend a little quality time in the Harmony Hutt.

:evil

[BUFFJEDI]

IMO The Spiderman movie is total trash! preach it brother, preach it :lol



Harmony hutt, :lol :lol :lol

[JMK]

Harmony Hutt? Isn't that what they call the adult section at video stores?

[Mu Satach]

Go watch Addams Family Values. :rollin

[Jinn Fizz]

Oh yeah, with the great scene where Wednesday smiles.... :wings

"She's scaring me!!!!"

Great flick. :D

[dbn]

LOL, you guys rock!

I don't go to the harmony hutt alone you know, one of you will be coming with me like it or not!!

[Mu Satach]

I shall call thee Joel Glicker.