Well, it's official: "The Amazing Spider-Man" is going to be a huge hit. With over $50 million already in the bank from overseas, "The Amazing Spider-Man" kicked off in North America on Tuesday with a record-breaking $35 million and is now on track to earn upwards of $140 million by Sunday night. Not bad for a movie that cost a reported $220 million. Even more, viewers 18 and under are giving the flick an A- CinemaScore, meaning that the studio's efforts to re-brand the franchise for a younger audience who may not be familiar with Sam Raimi's trilogy has been a success. And with a sequel already dated for May 2, 2014, it seems the studio is already looking beyond that.
On the film's official Facebook page on Monday, it was posted: "It's finally here! The Amazing Spider-Man is the first installment in a movie trilogy that will explore how our fave hero's journey was shaped by the disappearance of his parents." Key words there are "in a movie trilogy." This is the first time any reference has been officially made to the franchise beyond the first two movies, but it looks like Spidey is here for the long haul, and even more, producers Matt Tolmach and Avi Arad told SuperHeroHype they are already thinking of rounding up the Sinister Six to face off against the web-slinging hero. Here's an excerpt from that conversation:
SHH: Do you feel like you need to stay away from some of the villains that have appeared in the Sam Raimi movies? Or can you redefine them within the context of this new Spider-Man?
Arad: Well, not really. There are so many ways to paint these villains, all of them. As you know, one of the great sagas in the Spider-Man universe is of course the Sinister Six. I think "Avengers" did okay the last time I looked.
Tolmach: It's going to be okay.
Arad: Yeah, it will survive.
SHH: So are you suggesting you're going to do five Spider-Man movies introducing each villain and then the sixth movie will have the Sinister Six?
Tolmach: It seems like a good model.
Arad: It all depends on the stories that one wants to tell, because Spider-Man is really more a depth kind of a story, we have to be careful how many villains we can service, because a relationship with a villain has to be such that it's a story on his own. We attempted to do multiple villains–you've been there–you just need screen time to do it.
Now, for those of you catching up, Sinister Six was a group spearheaded by Doctor Octopus — composed of a bunch of baddies including Vulture, Electro, Kraven the Hunter, Mysterio, and Sandman — to finally defeat Spider-Man. What about Lizard? Well, in the comics, he actually turned down Doctor Octopus, but later joined the Sinister Twelve, so if this is indeed a path Tolmach and Arad are taking, we presume some gentle tweaking will be taking place.
And while this is intriguing, it also sounds a bit like an idea in early stages, because the key here is that they want to open up the world Spider-Man is in all over again. "One of the things that Matt and I are working on is the expansion of the universe. The Spider-Man Universe, as you know, has very interesting characters. We didn't even get yet to Robbie (Robertson) and J. Jonah Jameson," Arad explained. "We didn't get to John Jameson, and we didn't get yet to Mary Jane, so we are kind of peeling the onion and looking for what will be the most compelling and interesting relationships within the Spider-Man universe to continue and sometimes spin them off – that's an opportunity."
The latter part of that quote is in reference to the already brewing "Venom" movie that has Josh Trank attached to direct, and has already been suggested will tie into "The Amazing Spider-Man" universe. Either way, it's clear there are big plans in place for the franchise, which is already looking to expand the scope of Raimi's films into something much bigger, possibly mirroring Marvel's successful approach. Time will tell, but if the movie does what it should by the end of the weekend, those pieces are going to start getting moved into place.
i loved this movie..great action scenes. would have loved to see the sewer scene and water fight play out longer…very intrigued about the trilogy…green goblin could be done again,better since the first one he kind of looked like a power rangers character….he is like the joker in batman. he's classic. they also need to re-do venom..he is the greatest villain ever and spiderman 3 ruined him (topher grace, really)
I think they should introduce carnage in the third movie
Keep it dark nightish…..throw in green goblin and vulture in the next one…. introduce venom at the end… SHOW A BRAIN BEING EATEN!!!!!!!!……i hate how they made the new one look dark but put in no grit….Kill someone off other then porr unkle ben for gods sake….Gwen, her dad, sh*t!
Please don't reuse any villains. Spider-Man has such a huge rogues gallery. We really don't need to see anymore frickin goblins.
And badguys for ASP2 should be 1.Kraven 2.Electro 3.Kingpin 4.Vulture 5.Shocker
Of course Venom would be #1. But he is everybodies #1. And you can't tell the tale of Venom w/o telling the origin of the symbiote.
I liked it. 4out5. Not as good as Avengers. But the story was engaging. Garfield is not bad. he is a good Peter Parker. Spider-man seemed more human in this movie. Not sure if he developed Spidey-sense yet, but he was getting his ass kicked. Emma Stone is super hot. And Sheen and Fields are an awesome Uncle Ben and Aunt May. I wish they wouldn't keep re-telling the orgin. Should of just umped in the Raimi universe. But the Raimi Spiderman films were going in the wrong direction. They were turning into the Joel Schumacher Batman movies.
And Tobey McGuire sucks.
Sounds like a interesting story idea.
I dunno. I liked this movie quite a bit, but part of the reason I liked it was its modesty and simple pleasures. It didn't try to be too complicated or epic, just told the story well. And part of the pleasures of Raimi's films was there simple, 4-color gleefulness that wasn't too wrapped up in backstory or mysteries but just wanted to show you a good time. These guys' plans sound way too ambitious and mysterious and complicated–we don't need to rehash everything the comics have ever done, we just want some good Spider-Man stories. The mystery about his parents was the most uninteresting thing in the movie, and they never even answered it, so planning to make that the centerpiece of some grand design seems pretty dumb to me–it can't hold that kinda weight. It sounds like they're thinking in serial terms, when they ought to be thinking in individual picture terms.
Well, if they just continued on from the previous Spider-Man movies (albeit with a new cast) instead of rebooting with another origin story we would be two movies away from the Sinister Six by now.
By treating a new cast & crew like a different comic book creative team taking over a book would give the new film team the option of continuing or ignoring what went before without having to start from scratch.