The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the wall-crawler's latest movie to return to theaters as part of Sony's "Spider-Mondays," but how did it fare when compared to its predecessors?
The movie, directed by Marc Webb and starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, and Dane DeHaan, earned $500,000. That's not exactly a, well, amazing result, though it is pretty much what we expected for a sequel which isn't anywhere near as revered as its predecessors.
For comparison, The Amazing Spider-Man opened in 466 theaters last week and made $510,000 (a drop of only $10,000 for the sequel is somewhat astonishing). However, it's still a mighty fall from Spider-Man ($683,000), Spider-Man 2 ($809,000), and Spider-Man 3 ($760,000). Next up is 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming.
On the plus side, with a $1,100 per theater average, this was a solid showing, albeit one deemed less-than-spectacular overall.
We reviewed The Amazing Spider-Man 2 back in 2014 and it wasn't the most positive verdict.
"With appalling dialogue, slapstick humour, some bizarre aesthetics, and cheesy moments aplenty (Peter's Spider-Man theme ringtone or Electro beating Spidey up to the tune of "Incy Wincy Spider"), this is the Batman & Robin of the Spider-Man franchise," we concluded at the time.
In hindsight, that now seems a little harsh. The movie made some major missteps, particularly with Harry Osborn's transformation into the Green Goblin and a tone which was all over the place. However, Garfield was very good and Spidey's costume remains one of the best efforts we've seen on screen, even after three movies set in the MCU.
Despite grossing $709 million at the global box office, The Amazing Spider-Man 2's massive budget meant it was deemed a failure by Sony.
There's also been chatter about Garfield upsetting Sony execs in Japan by missing an event with them and, with fans rejecting Avi Arad's plans for both a third movie and a Sinister Six spin-off, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige wasted no time in approaching Sony with a ballsy pitch.
He'd already provided notes for the sequel (criticising many of the creative decisions being made) and suggested they now work with Marvel Studios by bringing Peter Parker into the MCU with a new actor playing him.
That happened in 2016 when Tom Holland starred in Captain America: Civil War, while Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Spider-Man: No Way Home all soon followed. The latter featured Garfield reprising his role as "Peter #3," giving the hero some closure after Gwen Stacy's death.
Many fans remain eager for The Amazing Spider-Man 3 to happen, but Sony is instead considering having Garfield (and Tobey Maguire) returned in Spider-Man 4. Failing that, we expect them to appear in Avengers: Secret Wars.
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