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.
List of accolades received by the 2002–2007 Spider-Man film series
The 2002–2007 "Spider-Man" film series, also called the Sam Raimi trilogy or the Tobey Maguire trilogy, is a superhero film series consisting of three Spider-Man films with the same director and main actor: "Spider-Man" (2002), "Spider-Man 2" (2004) and "Spider-Man 3" (2007). Based on the Marvel comic book series about the fictional character of the same name, all three films were directed by Sam Raimi and distributed by Columbia Pictures. Tobey Maguire plays the titular role, with Kirsten Dunst portraying his love interest, Mary Jane Watson, and James Franco concluding the principal cast with his role as Harry Osborn, Spider-Man's frenemy. Throughout the series, the "Spider-Man" releases featured villains such as Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) and Venom (Topher Grace). Other characters who appeared in the series are Betty Brant (Elizabeth Banks), J. Jonah Jameson (J. K. Simmons) and Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard).