Marvel Studios
The next film licensed from Marvel Studios was "Spider-Man" by Columbia Pictures, directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man. The film was released on May 3, 2002, grossing $403,706,375 in the United States and Canada and $821,708,551 worldwide. The early success of "Spider-Man" led the film's studio to issue a seven-figure advance for a sequel. Arad spoke of the deal, "Movies make sequels. Therefore, it's a big economic luxury to know that a movie's going to get a second and third. This is a business of precedence." According to a Lehman Brothers analysis, the Studios made only $62 million for the first 2 Spider-Man movies. Marvel was making more from half the consumer product licensing fees while making relatively little from the movie, but was enough for Marvel to regain its financial footings. In October 2002, Marvel Studios announced deals for Sub-Mariner and Prime with Universal Studios.
The Amazing Spider-Man (TV series)
The Amazing Spider-Man is the first live-action television series about the Marvel Comics hero of the same name, although it is not the first live-action portrayal of the character, since Spider-Man was featured in a series of comedic short skits called Spidey Super Stories beginning in the 1974 season of PBS' "The Electric Company" children's educational program. "The Amazing Spider-Man" was shown in the United States from September 19, 1977 to July 6, 1979. Though it was a considerable ratings success, the CBS series was cancelled after just 13 episodes, which included a pilot film airing in autumn of 1977. None of the episodes were released on DVD, but almost all of them have been released on VHS. Despite its storylines being set in New York City (the character's hometown), the series was mostly filmed in Los Angeles.
The only characters to appear regularly in both the television series and comics were Peter Parker/Spider-Man, J. Jonah Jameson, and Aunt May. Joe "Robbie" Robertson (played by Hilly Hicks) also appeared, but only in the pilot. Farley Stillwell, a scientist in the Marvel universe, makes a cameo in Wolfpack. A different actress played Aunt May in each episode in which she appeared.