List of accolades received by the 2002–2007 Spider-Man film series
The first film in the franchise, "Spider-Man", was released to US theaters on May 3, 2002. Its story follows Peter Parker (played by Tobey Maguire), a high-school student who turns to crime-fighting in New York, under the alias of Spider-Man, after developing spider-like powers. The film sees him develop friendships with Harry Osborn (James Franco) and his love interest, Mary Jane Watson (portrayed by Kirsten Dunst). "Spider-Man" was praised for staying faithful to the comic series and for being an enjoyable movie, with Joe Morgenstern of "The Wall Street Journal" finding the film to be "unusually good" for its genre. Raimi's 2002 release topped the box office with ticket revenue totaling to $114.8 million. By the end of its theatrical run, it had grossed over $820 million.
List of unproduced Marvel Comics projects
The Marvel Comics character Eddie Brock, an antagonist of Spider-Man, was first introduced in cinema in the May 2007 film "Spider-Man 3", with Topher Grace in the role. The character was initially intended to play only a minor role that did not explore his alter-ego Venom, but this was eventually changed to a major villain role for the latter because producer Avi Arad felt the series had relied too much on director Sam Raimi's personal favorite Spider-Man villains and not characters that modern fans were more interested in. Raimi had been hesitant to explore the character due to his "lack of humanity". Arad revealed plans for a spinoff film focused on Venom in July 2007. By July 2008, Sony Pictures was actively developing "Venom" alongside direct sequels to "Spider-Man 3", hoping the character could "add longevity" to the franchise in a similar fashion to Wolverine in 20th Century Fox's "X-Men" films. Jacob Estes had written a script for the film, but the studio was considering taking it in a different direction from that draft and was seeking new writers. Sony was also not yet convinced that Grace could "carry" the film.