Spider-Man 2 | 2004 | 3D Plastic | UK Poster

Spider-Man 2 is a 2004 superhero film directed by Sam Raimi and produced by Laura Ziskin and Avi Arad. The screenplay was written by Alvin Sargent based on a story Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and Michael Chabon. The film is based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Spider-Man 2 stars Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfred Molina, Rosemary Harris and Donna Murphy

The storyline is set two years after the events of the first Spider-Man film, and finds Peter Parker struggling to manage both his personal life and his duties as Spider-Man, which affects his civilian life dramatically. Meanwhile, Dr. Otto Octavius becomes a diabolical villain after a failed experiment kills his wife and leaves him neurologically fused to mechanical tentacles. Spider-Man must stop him from successfully recreating the dangerous experiment, while dealing with a subconscious desire to stop being Spider-Man that is stripping him of his powers.

Sam Raimi said he felt that thematically the film had to explore Peter’s conflict with his personal wants against his responsibility, exploring the positive and negatives of his chosen path, and how he ultimately decides that he can be happy as a heroic figure. Raimi also stated the story was partly influenced by Superman II, which also explored the titular hero giving up his responsibilities.

Principal photography began in April 2003 in New York City and Chicago. Filming also took place in Los Angeles where ten major sets were created by production designer Neil Spisak. After a scare surrounding with back pains, Tobey Maguire revealed that he relished performing many of his stunts, even creating a joke of it with Raimi, creating the line “My back, my back” as Spider-Man tries to regain his powers. Even Rosemary Harris took a turn, putting her stunt double out of work. In contrast, Alfred Molina joked that the stunt team would “trick” him into performing a stunt time and again.

When Spider-Man 2 was released it received positive reviews from the critics and audiences alike. On Rotten Tomatoes it currently holds a rating of 93% with the general consensus being, “Boasting an entertaining villain and deeper emotional focus, this is a nimble sequel that improves upon the original.”. Roger Ebert who had given the first film two and a half stars, praised Spider-Man 2 and gave a perfect four out of four stars, 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.” He later called it the fourth best film of 2004.

Commercially, Spider-Man 2 was a huge box office success despite having an estimated production budget of $200 million. When reelased on 30th June 2004 it grossed $40.4 million in box office reciept on its first day; this broke the record set by the first film, Spider-Man, which had an opening day record of $39.4 million and wasn’t surpassed until a year later by Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith ($50.0 million). In its first six days of release, Spider-Man 2 had grossed over $180 million. It would eventually go onto gross $373.5 million in US box office reciepts becoming 2004’s second-highest-grossing film, behind Shrek 2 and remains the 28th highest-grossing film in the USA and Canada. The total worldwide box office reciepts were in excess of $789 million.

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