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.
Avenging Spider-Man
Avenging Spider-Man is the title of an American comic book series published monthly by Marvel Comics, featuring the adventures of the fictional superhero Spider-Man. The events in the story take place in the primary continuity of the mainstream Marvel Universe along with the events of "The Amazing Spider-Man" and later "The Superior Spider-Man". This was the first ongoing series to feature Spider-Man as the main character besides "The Amazing Spider-Man" since the cancellation of "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" and the second volume of "Sensational Spider-Man" in December 2008 following the conclusion of the "" storyline. "Avenging Spider-Man" has also been instrumental in Marvel's shift towards including codes to receive free digital copies of the comic with purchased print comic books.