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"Spidey 3" director fatigued, but are audiences?
2007-04-24
Early reviews are good, advance ticket sales are strong and two weeks before its debut, "Spider-Man 3" is grabbing headlines around the world, but director Sam Raimi says he can't think of more Spidey movies. "I'm just exhausted, and I need to get away from it for awhile," Raimi told Reuters in a recent interview. The big question for this third film about the superhero with spider-like powers is whether audiences will be tired, too, when "Spidey" makes its global debut on May 4. Later sequels in a series tend to have a rough time at the box office because their makers, stars and audiences are weary of the story. The first "Batman" raked in $411 million worldwide in 1989, but the fourth, 1997's "Batman & Robin," had a $238 million global haul. An exception is the "Lord of the Rings" films that gained critical success and box office muscle during their three outings. To combat sequel fatigue, Raimi said he infused "Spider-man 3" with a "brand new energy" to create tension between the three main characters, Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire), his girlfriend Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) and his best friend and sometimes adversary, Harry Osborn (James Franco). Spider-man battles new villains in the Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) and Venom (Topher Grace), and develops a new love interest, Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard), who comes between Watson and Spidey's alter ego, the geeky Peter Parker. GOOD SPIDEY GONE BAD One factor that may be as important as any of these new characters is that all-around good guy Parker lets the fame of being Spider-Man go to his head, and he risks losing the love of Watson. "We were not going to keep remaking the same story -- even though there are similar elements to all the 'Spider-Man' films -- we're going to continue the growth of this guy as a human being," said Raimi, who also directed the first two installments. For now, Raimi's formula is working. The movie, which cost more than $250 million to make, premiered in Tokyo on April 16, screened in Los Angeles late last week and played in London on Monday. Early reviews are mostly good. "Arachnophiles everywhere finally have cause to celebrate," said show business newspaper Hollywood Reporter. In London, The Times said the movie "amounts to a daft, highly polished couple of hours of fantasy fun" and gave it three stars out of five. Comic book films such as "Spider-Man" have mostly young fans who rarely heed reviews, and the third film seems to be enjoying a great deal of pent-up demand. Earlier this week, online ticket sellers Movietickets.com and Fandango.com said advance sales were very brisk. So Raimi should rest easy. All the hype, global premieres, early reviews and ticket sales add up to what looks like success for "Spider-Man 3" -- if the movie pirates don't strike first. News reports say pirated DVDs are on sale in Beijing. But Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is releasing the film, said it could not find any illegal DVDs or copies on the Internet. Sony said pirated DVDS reported to be "Spider-Man 3" were actually "Spider-Man 2." A fourth film is in development at Sony's Columbia Pictures, and while it may not be directed by Raimi -- for now, he's not saying whether he'll return -- he said he is willing to take a look. "I think they have talked about that, and I'd love to read what they're developing," Raimi said.
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