This is wild. Sony decided to re-release Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 2” (2004) and it ended up grossing $805k last night in 467 theaters—second only to “Civil War” ($900k). It actually sold more admissions than “Civil War.” Is the current crop of films playing in theaters so bad that a 20-year-old movie can best all of them at the box-office? Sure looks like it.
“Spider-Man 2” was supposed to be in theaters for one night only. However, due to high demand, Sony decided to extend its release by several days, until Thursday. Why not just let it play out over the weekend? Sony has nothing to lose.
A whopping 10 Spider-Man films have been released since 2002. However, “Spider-Man 2" is still, far and away, the best one. It’s the perfect superhero movie. A wonderful mix of action, heart and character. The thrilling speeding-train finale is a major highlight. Hell, I think it’s one of the best comic book movies ever made, maybe the greatest one. It’s either ‘Spidey 2’ or “The Dark Knight.”
Next Monday sees the release of Raimi’s much-maligned “Spider-Man 3.” I still prefer that one to any of the Tom Holland and Andrew Garfield movies. If you remember, Raimi had some unfilmed ideas for a fourth “Spider-Man” movie, but that project never happened because, well, “Spider-Man 3” turned almost everybody off, including Raimi. The filmmaker hasn’t been shy in admitting that “Emo Peter Parker” was a terrible idea.