User:Bignole/Sandbox (general)
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[edit] Reaction
- Criticism
Critical reaction to the film was mostly positive. Film review site Rotten Tomatoes calculated a 90% overall approval based on 200 reviews, and it scored an 87% Cream of the Crop rating.[1] Currently, it carries a 7.3/10 rating, from 88,845 vote, on the Internet Movie Database.[2] The casting, mainly Tobey Maguire, is often cited as one of the high points of film. Eric Harrison, of the Houston Chronicle, was initially skeptical of the casting of Tobey Maguire, but, after seeing the film, he stated, "within seconds, however, it becomes hard to imagine anyone else in the role."[3] USA Today's Mike Clark believed the casting rivaled that of 1978's Superman.[4] Owen Gleiberman, of Entertainment Weekly, had mixed feelings about the casting, particularly Tobey Maguire. "Maguire, winning as he is, never quite gets the chance to bring the two sides of Spidey -- the boy and the man, the romantic and the avenger -- together."[5] The Hollywood Report's Kirk Honeycutt thought, "the filmmakers' imaginations work in overdrive from the clever design of the cobwebby opening credits and Spider-Man and M.J.'s upside down kiss -- after one of his many rescues of her -- to a finale that leaves character relationships open ended for future adventures."[6] Not all of the criticism was good, as LA Weekly's Manohla Dargis wrote, "It isn't that Spider-Man is inherently unsuited for live-action translation; it's just that he's not particularly interesting or, well, animated."[7] Giving it 2.5/4 stars, Roger Ebert felt the film lacked a decent action element; "Consider the scene where Spider-Man is given a cruel choice between saving Mary Jane or a cable car full of school kids. He tries to save both, so that everyone dangles from webbing that seems about to pull loose. The visuals here could have given an impression of the enormous weights and tensions involved, but instead the scene seems more like a bloodless storyboard of the idea."[8]
- Box office performance
Spider-Man was commercially released in the United States on May 3, 2002 in 3,615 theaters. The film earned $114,844,116 during its opening weekend and became the fastest theatrical release to reach $100 million, crossing the milestone in three days.[9] The film's three-day record was later surpassed by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest in 2006.[10] Spider-Man also set an all-time record for the highest earnings in a single day with $43,622,264 on May 4, 2002, a record later surpassed by Shrek 2 in 2004.[11] In the U.S. box office, Spider-Man became the highest grossing film of 2002 with $403,706,375, defeating The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.[12] Spider-Man currently ranks #7 in the all-time U.S. box office. The film also grossed $821,708,551 worldwide, currently placing it #14 in worldwide box office ranks.[13]
- Awards
The film has won several awards ranging from Teen Choice Awards to the Saturn Awards, and was even nominated for an Academy Award.[14] While only Danny Elfman brought home a Saturn Award, Raimi, Maguire, and Dunst were all nominated for their respective positions. Spider-Man was nominated for an Oscar in the "Best Visual Effects" and "Best Sound" categories. It took home the People's Choice Award for "Favorite Motion Picture."[14]
[edit] Costume
Spider-Man's costume was initially developed by Warren Manser on his Power Mac G4. Manser used Adobe Photoshop, Corel Painter, and Macromedia FreeHand before sending his finished product off to Sony Imageworks. "I use the computer mostly as a conceptual tool that develops ideas that are first generated from my drawings. Sony Imageworks will take those concepts to a 3D level, using their hardware and software, that can be used for visual FX, etc."[15]
