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.
Spider-Man (2002 film)
"Spider-Man" currently ranks as the 29th-highest-grossing film of all time in the U.S. and Canada, not adjusted for inflation. The film also grossed $418,002,176 from its international markets, bringing its worldwide total to $821,708,551, making it 2002's third-highest-grossing film behind "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and the 58th-highest-grossing film of all time, worldwide. The film sold an estimated 69,484,700 tickets in the US. It held the record for most tickets sold by a comic book movie until "The Dark Knight" topped it in 2008. Later few movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe did surpass it. It is still the 5th highest grossing comic book movie of all time adjusted for inflation. Only "Avengers: Infinity War", "The Dark Knight", "Black Panther" and "The Avengers" have sold more tickets than "Spider-Man". "Spider-Man" was the highest-grossing superhero origin film, a record it held for 15 years until it was surpassed by "Wonder Woman" (2017). It is the eighth-highest-grossing superhero film, as well as eighth-highest-grossing comic book adaptation in general.