Spider-Man 3 (2007 film)

Spider-Man 3 is a 2007 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. It was directed by Sam Raimi from a screenplay by Raimi, his older brother Ivan and Alvin Sargent. It is the third and final installment in Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy. The film stars Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, alongside Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, James Cromwell, Rosemary Harris, and J. K. Simmons. Set shortly after the events of Spider-Man 2 (2004 film), as Peter Parker prepares his future with Mary Jane Watson, he bonds with an extraterrestrial symbiote, bringing out his anger while facing three villains: Uncle Ben's true killer, Flint Marko, who becomes the Sandman after a freak accident; Harry Osborn, who seeks to avenge his father; and Eddie Brock, a rival photographer who becomes Venom after acquiring Peter's symbiote.

Development of Spider-Man 3 began immediately after the release of Spider-Man 2 for a 2007 release. During pre-production, Raimi originally wanted another villain to be included along with Sandman. At the request of producer Avi Arad, he added Venom and the producers also requested the addition of Gwen Stacy. Principal photography for the film began in January 2006, and took place in Los Angeles and Cleveland before moving to New York City from May until July 2006. Additional pick-up shots were made after August and the film wrapped in October 2006. During post-production, Sony Pictures Imageworks created over 900 visual effects shots. With an estimated production budget of $258–350 million, it was the most expensive film ever made at the time of its release.

Spider-Man 3 premiered on April 16, 2007, in Tokyo, and was released in the United States in both conventional and IMAX theaters on May 4, 2007. The film grossed $890.9 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of the trilogy, the third-highest-grossing film of 2007 and was the highest-grossing Spider-Man film until it was surpassed by Spider-Man: Far From Home in 2019. Unlike the previous installments, Spider-Man 3 received a mixed reception from critics, who praised the performances, visual effects and action sequences, but criticized the overloaded storylines and subplots and overabundance of villains, most notably Venom. The majority of these issues were later attributed to studio interferences and creative differences between Sony, Raimi and Arad.

A fourth installment, titled Spider-Man 4, was set to be released on May 6, 2011, followed by a Venom spin-off film, but both were cancelled due to Raimi's withdrawal over creative differences with the writers and producers. The Spider-Man film series was rebooted twice; first with The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) by Marc Webb and starring Andrew Garfield; and later a new film series set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, directed by Jon Watts and starring Tom Holland, beginning with Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017). The Venom spin-off was revived in 2016 by Sony and was finally released in 2018 with Venom, set within Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters and directed by [Fleischer].

Plot
One year after Dr. Octopus met his demise, Peter Parker plans to propose to Mary Jane Watson, who just made her Broadway musical debut. Later, a meteorite lands at Central Park, and an extraterrestrial symbiote follows Peter to his apartment. Harry Osborn, seeking vengeance after his father's death and having taken the performance-enhancing gas, attacks Peter with his father's Green Goblin technology, but the battle ends in a stalemate with Harry crashing out and having amnesia, wiping out his memory of Peter as Spider-Man. Meanwhile, police pursue escaped convict Flint Marko, who visits his wife and sick daughter before fleeing again. Falling into an experimental particle accelerator that fuses his DNA with the surrounding sand, he transforms into the Sandman, who can control sand and reform his body with it.

During a festival honoring Spider-Man for saving Gwen Stacy's life, he kisses Gwen, infuriating Mary Jane. Meanwhile, Marko robs an armored truck, subduing Spider-Man while escaping. NYPD Captain George Stacy, Gwen's father, informs Peter and his aunt May that Marko was the true killer of uncle Ben; the deceased Dennis Carradine had been Marko's accomplice. At his apartment, while Peter sleeps in his Spider-Man suit to wait for Flint, the symbiote assimilates the suit; Peter later awakens atop a building, discovering that his costume has changed and his powers are enhanced; however, the symbiote brings out Peter's dark side. Peter locates Marko and battles him in a subway tunnel. Discovering that water is Marko's weakness, Spider-Man opens a pipe, releasing water that reduces Marko to mud and washes him away.

Peter's changed personality alienates Mary Jane, whose career is floundering after she has been fired from her show. She shares a tender moment with Harry, but leaves afterward in regret. Harry recovers from his amnesia, urged by a hallucination of his father and blackmails Mary Jane into breaking up with Peter. After Mary Jane tells Peter she loves "somebody else," Harry meets with Peter and claims to be that person. Peter confronts Harry over this and spitefully tells him that his father never loved him. Another battle ensues, with Harry throwing a pumpkin bomb at Peter, who deflects it back, disfiguring Harry's face.

At the Daily Bugle, Peter exposes rival photographer Eddie Brock, whose fake photos depict Spider-Man as a criminal. Publisher J. Jonah Jameson fires Brock and hires Peter to be a staff photographer. Later, Peter brings Gwen to a jazz club, where Mary Jane now works. Realizing this, Gwen leaves the club while Peter assaults the bouncers and accidentally hits Mary Jane. Peter realizes that the symbiote is corrupting him and retreats to a church's bell tower where, upon realizing high-pitched sounds weakens the creature, he removes the symbiote. The symbiote bonds with Brock, transforming him into Venom. Brock locates Marko, who survived being washed away, and convinces him to join forces to defeat Spider-Man.

Brock kidnaps Mary Jane and holds her hostage from a web high at a construction site, while Marko keeps police at bay. After Harry refuses to help Peter, he finally learns the truth about his father's death from his butler. While Peter battles Brock and Marko, Harry arrives to help him with his Green Goblin technology. Brock attempts to impale Peter with Harry's glider, but Harry jumps in and is impaled himself. Remembering the symbiote's weakness, Peter assembles a perimeter of metal pipes to create a sonic attack, weakening it and allowing Peter to separate Brock from the symbiote. He activates a pumpkin bomb from Harry's glider and throws it at the symbiote. However, Brock, who became addicted to the symbiote's influence, leaps into the symbiote in an attempt to save it, and is vaporized along with the symbiote.

Afterward, Marko explains that Ben's death was an accident that has haunted Marko ever since. Peter forgives him, and Marko peacefully drifts away. Harry and Peter reconcile before Harry subsequently dies from his injuries. Following Harry's funeral, Peter and Mary Jane reconcile and share a dance.

Cast

 * Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man: A superhero, a brilliant physics student at Columbia University, and photographer for the Daily Bugle. As he grows arrogant with the city starting to embrace him for the first time in his career, an alien symbiote attaches itself to Peter's costume and influences his behavior for the worse. Maguire said he relished the opportunity to play a less timid Peter in this film.
 * Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson: Peter Parker's girlfriend and a Broadway actress, whom he has loved since childhood. Mary Jane has a string of bad luck in the film, reminiscent of Peter's misfortune in Spider-Man 2, losing her job because of bad reviews and losing her boyfriend when the symbiote takes him over.
 * James Franco as Harry Osborn / New Goblin: The son of Norman Osborn and Peter Parker's best friend, who believes Spider-Man murdered his father. After learning Peter is Spider-Man and that Norman was the Green Goblin, Harry becomes the New Goblin to battle his former friend directly.
 * Thomas Haden Church as Flint Marko / Sandman: A small-time thug who has a wife and sick daughter, for whom he steals money to help get the treatment to cure her. He transforms into the Sandman following a freak accident, and incurs Peter's wrath when Peter learns he was his Uncle Ben's true killer. Church was approached for Sandman because of his award-winning performance in the film Sideways, and accepted the role despite the lack of a script at the time. The film's Sandman possesses sympathy similarly exhibited by [Chaney] in his portrayals of misunderstood creatures, as well as Frankenstein's monster, the Golem, and Andy Serkis's portrayals of Gollum and King Kong. Church worked out for sixteen months to improve his physique for the role, gaining 28 pounds of muscle and losing ten pounds of fat.
 * Topher Grace as Eddie Brock / Venom: Peter's rival at the Daily Bugle. He is exposed by Peter for creating a fake incriminating image of Spider-Man, and leaps at the opportunity to exact his revenge when he bonds with an extraterrestrial symbiote. Grace had impressed the producers with his performance in the film In Good Company. A big comic book fan who read the first Venom stories as a boy, Grace spent six months working out to prepare for the role, gaining twenty-four pounds of muscle. He approached the character as someone under the influence, similar to an alcoholic or drug addict, and interpreted him as having a bad childhood, which is the key difference between him and Peter. Grace found his costume unpleasant, as it had to be constantly smeared to give a liquid-like feel. The costume took an hour to put on, though prosthetics took four hours to apply. Grace also wore fangs, which bruised his gums.
 * Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen Stacy: Peter's lab partner. He asks her out to embarrass Mary Jane when possessed by the symbiote. Howard said the challenge of playing the role was in reminding many fans of the good-natured character who was Peter's first love in the comics, yet was "the other woman" in the film. Howard strived to create a sense that Gwen could potentially be a future girlfriend for him, and that, "I was not acting like some kind of man-stealing tart." Howard performed many of her stunts, unaware of the fact she was several months pregnant.
 * James Cromwell as Captain George Stacy: Gwen's father and a New York City Police Department Captain.
 * Rosemary Harris as May Parker: The aunt of Peter Parker and the widow of Ben Parker, Peter's uncle. She gives Peter her engagement ring so he can propose to Mary Jane, and gives him lessons in forgiveness.
 * J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson: The aggressive chief of the Daily Bugle. He has a particular dislike towards Spider-Man, whom he considers a criminal.

Several actors reprise their roles from the previous films. Dylan Baker portrays Dr. Curt Connors, a college physics professor under whom Peter Parker studies, while Willem Dafoe portrays Norman Osborn / Green Goblin, Harry's late father, who returns as a hallucination to encourage his son to destroy Spider-Man, and Cliff Robertson appears as Ben Parker, Peter's deceased uncle in his final acting appearance before his death in 2011. Bill Nunn, Ted Raimi, Michael Papajohn, John Paxton and Elizabeth Banks return as Joseph "Robbie" Robertson, a longtime employee at the Daily Bugle, Ted Hoffman, also a longtime employee of the Daily Bugle, Dennis Carradine, the carjacker who was believed to have murdered Uncle Ben, Bernard Houseman, butler to the Osborn family and Betty Brant, the receptionist at the Daily Bugle for J. Jonah Jameson, respectively. Elya Baskin additionally reprises his role as Mr. Ditkovitch, Peter's landlord while Mageina Tovah reprises her role as his daughter Ursula. Joe Manganiello reprises his role as Flash Thompson from the first film in a cameo appearance.

Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee has a cameo in Spider-Man 3, as he did in the previous Spider-Man films, which he referred to as his "best cameo". Actor Bruce Campbell, who had cameo roles as a wrestling ring announcer in Spider-Man and as a rude usher in Spider-Man 2, returns in Spider-Man 3 with a new cameo as a French maître d'. Originally his character, who helps Peter try to propose, was much more antagonistic. Composer Christopher Young appears in the film as a pianist at Mary Jane's theater when she is fired, while producer Grant Curtis cameoed as the driver of an armored car that Sandman attacks. Comedian Dean Edwards played one of the newspaper readers who badmouth Spider-Man. 75-year-old newscaster Hal Fishman appears as himself anchoring the saga of Mary Jane's kidnapping by Venom; he died just fourteen weeks after the movie opened. Actress Lucy Gordon appeared as newscaster Jennifer Dugan.