The Amazing Spider Man 2

Plot

Oscorp scientist Richard Parker records a video message to explain his disappearance. Later, he and his wife, Mary, are aboard a private jet hijacked by an assassin sent to kill Richard and his wife. Richard and Mary fight off the man, but the ensuing struggle causes the plane to crash, killing both Richard and Mary, after he uploads the video.

In the present time, Richard's son, Peter, continues to fight crime as Spider-Man. He pursues and apprehends Aleksei Sytsevich. Later, Peter meets with Gwen at their high school graduation ceremony and, insisting he keep his vow to her father, ends their relationship. Peter's childhood friend, Harry Osborn, returns to Manhattan to see his terminally-ill father, Norman, CEO of OsCorp. Norman explains his illness is genetic, and Harry is at the age where it first develops. Norman gives Harry a small device he claims contains his life's work. The next day, Norman dies and Harry is appointed the new OsCorp CEO.

While working in an OsCorp laboratory, electrical engineer Max Dillon shocks himself by accident and falls into a tank of genetically-engineered electric eels. They attack him, and he mutates into a living electric generator. Meanwhile, Peter attempts to maintain a friendship with Gwen, but she reveals that she may move to England for schooling. Before they can discuss it, Dillon wanders into Times Square, accidentally causing a blackout, and is stopped by Peter after a battle. Dillon is taken to the Ravencroft Institute, where he is studied by German scientist Dr. Kafka. Meanwhile, the first symptoms of Harry's illness are showing, and he uses the device Norman gave him to deduce that Spider-Man's blood could help save him. He asks Peter, who has been selling photos of Spider-Man to the Daily Bugle, to aid him in finding Spider-Man. Peter refuses, unsure of what effects the transfusion would have. Although he later comes to Harry as Spider-Man, he still refuses, and Harry becomes resentful towards Spider-Man. The OsCorp board-members, in particular the vice-president, Donald Menken, frame Harry for covering up Dillon's accident, remove him as CEO, overthrow him, and take control of Oscorp. Harry's assistant, Felicia Hardy, informs him of equipment that could help him, so he makes a deal with Dillon, who now calls himself "Electro," to get him back inside the OsCorp building. There he finds a suit of armor and other equipment made by Norman, as well as venom from the now-destroyed genetically-altered spiders. The venom accelerates Harry's illness, and transforms him into a goblin-like creature, but the suit's built-in emergency protocol restores his health and cures his disease.

Peter uses information left by his father to locate the video message in an abandoned subway station's hidden lab. Richard explains that he had to leave, because he refused to cooperate with Norman's biogenetic weaponization plans. Peter then hears a voicemail from Gwen, telling him that she was offered the British scholarship, and is heading to the airport earlier than expected. He manages to catch her and professes his love for her, and, vowing to go wherever she goes, they agree to go to England together. Electro causes another blackout, and Peter heads off to battle him as Spider-Man. Gwen follows, and together, they restore power, and overload Electro's body, killing him.

The transformed Harry, who now calls himself "Green Goblin", arrives equipped with Norman's armor and weaponry. Upon seeing Gwen, he deduces Spider-Man's secret identity and, swearing revenge for being refused the blood transfusion, kidnaps her, and takes her to the top of a clock tower. Peter manages to defeat Harry, but his webbing breaks during the battle, and Gwen falls to her death. Peter mourns over Gwen's death, and ends his career as Spider-Man.

Five months later, Harry is coping with the aftereffects of his transformation while incarcerated at Ravencroft. His associate, Gustav Fiers, visits Harry and the pair discuss forming their own team. Harry orders Fiers to start with Sytsevich. Later, an unknown team of men break Sytsevich out of prison. Equipped with an electromechanical suit of armor, Sytsevich calls himself the Rhino and rampages through the streets. Peter, inspired by Gwen's graduation speech, resumes his role as Spider-Man, and confronts him.

Cast

Chris Cooper portrays Norman Osborn, the late founder of Oscorp and Harry Osborn's father, while B. J. Novak portrays Alistair Smythe. Denis Leary reprises his role as George Stacy from the first film, where he appears as a ghost in Peter's visions, while Kari Coleman, Charlie DePew, Skyler Gisondo and Jacob Rodier reprise their roles as Helen Stacy, Philip Stacy, Howard Stacy and Simon Stacy respectively. Spider-Man co-creator, Stan Lee, has a cameo appearance as a guest at Peter and Gwen's graduation ceremony. Michael Massee reprises his role as the "Man in the Shadows" from the first film, with the character now credited as "Gustav Fiers (The Gentleman)". Aidy Bryant appears as a woman dressed as the Statue of Liberty. J.D. Walsh appears as an online instructor demonstrating how batteries work and an uncredited actor portrays the Oscorp hired assassin who was sent to kill Richard and Mary.

Development

The sequel's villain was teased in the 2012 film. Webb stated that the origin story would further unfold in the second installment. In June 2012, Webb said he was unsure whether he would return, though it was confirmed on September 28, 2012, that he would return to direct the sequel. He stated that he "wanted to create a universe that not only can withstand but anticipate future storylines" while also "working in and of itself for one movie." Andrew Garfield had also expressed hope to reprise his role, and in September 2012, it was confirmed that he would do so. Emma Stone was later confirmed to be reprising her role as Gwen Stacy, having signed a contract for two Amazing Spider-Man sequels. The original costume and mask from The Amazing Spider-Man was altered and has lens in the mask, making the eyes bigger. The web shooters were also modified.

Actor J. K. Simmons expressed interest in reprising his role as J. Jonah Jameson from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy should the studio offer it to him. In October 2012, Electro was rumored as the next villain. Jamie Foxx was given the role. That December, Foxx confirmed that he was cast as the character, and during an interview with MTV, explained that the redesign of the character would be more grounded as well as details of his depiction, which were based upon the Ultimate Marvel incarnation of Electro. On December 3, 2012, Marc Webb revealed that Dane DeHaan was chosen to play Harry Osborn. Paul Giamatti was confirmed as a cast member in February 2013. Felicity Jones confirmed her involvement with the film under an undisclosed role. Giamatti also indicated in an October 2013 interview that he would return in The Amazing Spider-Man 3 as well. On February 27, 2013, Chris Cooper was cast as Norman Osborn.

By October 10, 2012, Shailene Woodley was in talks for the role of Mary Jane Watson. By March 14, 2013, Woodley had concluded filming her small role. Garfield recalled, "I think all of [those scenes] were in our backyards. We had two or three scenes with me talking over the fence, and there was one with us riding together on a motorcycle that we never got to shoot." By mid-June, Mary Jane was cut from the film, with director Webb explaining it as "a creative decision to streamline the story and focus on Peter and Gwen and their relationship."

Filming

On February 4, 2013, Marc Webb posted on Twitter that principal photography had begun and that the sequel was being shot on 35 mm film in the anamorphic format, instead of being filmed digitally as the preceding film was. Sony revealed this would be the first Spider-Man film to be filmed entirely in New York State, including a car-chase scene that was filmed in Rochester because the speed laws are less restrictive in upstate New York. It became the largest film production ever in New York State. The decision to film in Williamsburg, Brooklyn near the Passover holiday caused some controversy, as critics believed that this was culturally insensitive, and would cause problems with parking. The filming company decided to work with the community and then agreed to adjust its production activities for Passover. The producers had assembled a 200-person crew for the 10-day shoot in Rochester, with a total number of 250 local crew members and 150 local extras. The prominent scenes were shot mostly on Main Street of Rochester and were digitally remastered to look like New York City.

On June 25, Webb posted on Twitter that filming was completed. Soundstage work was done at Grumman Studios and Gold Coast Studios, both in Bethpage, New York, and at the Marcy Armory in Brooklyn.

Special effects

Sony Pictures Imageworks designed the special effects for the film. The digital composition of the film, including the scene where the battle of Spider-Man and Electro in Times Square, took one year to complete. The sets of Times Square were built in Gold Coast Studios with the green screens and most of the scenes were digitally re-designed by computer. The photography and VFX team took over 36,000 photos of the Times Square in order to re-create the location digitally. In addition, the animation team captured over 100 billboards during the photography process.

The film was post-converted from 2D to 3D, in part because the production team wanted to shoot 35 mm film. Dan Mindel used Kodak Vision3 500T 5219 and 200T 5213, while the second unit shot day exteriors on Kodak Vision3 50D 5203. During the production, 20 layers of lightning CGI effects were applied to depict Electro. Jamie Foxx was photographed as Electro by KNB EFX team and the skin colors used to show the moods of the character. A total number of 1600 visual effects shots of the film was originally filmed in 2K resolution and then converted into 4K resolution with the help of color grading. To give the visual effects a realistic look, sound designers Addison Teague and Eric Norris and re-recording mixers Paul Massey and David Giammarco mixed the background music using Auro 11.1 cinema sound technology and the film's soundtrack was remixed using Dolby Atmos, Auro and Dolby 5.1.

Post-production

The film was mixed in Auro 11.1 and Dolby Atmos in the converted William Holden Theater. The mix for both was completed by Paul Massey and David Giammarco.

A mid-credit teaser scene from X-Men: Days of Future Past was added to the film after its London premiere, due to an existing deal between Webb and 20th Century Fox, in which Fox allowed Webb to direct the film if Sony would promote the X-Men film for free. The scene, set during the Vietnam War, shows Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), a rogue mutant, trying to infiltrate a military camp led by William Stryker (Josh Helman) in an attempt to recruit fellow mutants Havok (Lucas Till) and Toad (Evan Jonigkeit). The scene's inclusion sparked confusion among some viewers in the United Kingdom, who thought it meant an X-Men–Spider-Man crossover film was being planned, based on how Marvel Studios and Disney use codas within the Marvel Cinematic Universe to promote future films.

On July 20, 2013, Webb announced that Hans Zimmer would be composing the music for the film, replacing James Horner, the composer of the first film. On October 25, 2013, Pharrell Williams revealed to Billboard that he would co-compose the score with Zimmer. Webb and Zimmer formed a supergroup with Williams, Johnny Marr, Mike Einziger and former Eurythmic, David A. Stewart, to create the music for the sequel. Eventually, Stewart did not participate in the film's music, and the supergroup, credited as The Magnificent Six (a reference to the Sinister Six) was composed of Williams, Marr, Einziger, Junkie XL, Steve Mazzaro and Andrew Kawczynski assisting Zimmer. The soundtrack for the film was released on April 22, 2014 by Columbia Records and Madison Gate Records. Hans Zimmer described his work for this film as different from previous works by him, thus revealing one of the themes for the film, which was first heard on the website.

On March 31, 2014, a track called "It's On Again" was uploaded to SoundCloud. It features vocals by Kendrick Lamar and Alicia Keys. Keys announced the song on Twitter and credited Zimmer and Williams, along with Lamar and herself for the song, indicating the song as a part of the film's soundtrack. Webb described the song as “upbeat and exciting”.

Marketing

The release of the film in the United Kingdom was postponed to April 16, 2014, two days ahead of its original April 18 date. Deadline reported that, in addition to the production budget, the film's marketing budget was $180–190 million.

On July 17, 2013, Sony released a clip from the film with the first released footage of Jamie Foxx as Electro to encourage attendance at the panel, at the San Diego Comic-Con International. At the panel they premiered a four-minute trailer, which was not publicly released but eventually leaked on the internet. Viral marketing for the film included a version of the Daily Bugle on the blogging service Tumblr, which included references to Kate Cushing, Detective Stan Carter, the "Big Man", Izzy Bunsen, Joy Mercado, Donald Menken, the Vulture, Hydro-Man, Spencer Smythe, Ned Leeds, Anne Weying, J. Jonah Jameson, Shocker, Alistair Smythe, Doctor Octopus, Eddie Brock, The Enforcers and Puma. Marc Webb posted a photo on Twitter with a message written in Dwarven language revealing that the first trailer would debut prior to 3D screenings of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

On December 8, 2013, it was announced that new footage from the film would be presented during New Year's Eve festivities at New York City's Times Square. The film was further promoted during the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) "Earth Hour" campaign. The cast was present at the launch of the 2014 event in Singapore. Disney Consumer Products announced a merchandise product line for the film at the American International Toy Fair on February 17, 2014.

In March 2014, Gameloft and Marvel announced the launch of a mobile game of the same name for smartphones and tablets. It was released on consoles afterward. Kellogg's released an application featuring the film. Evian served as a promotional partner of the film. On April 1, 2014, the brand released an advertisement "The Amazing Baby & Me 2" featuring Spider-Man and a baby version of him, as a follow-up to their original "Baby & Me" campaign. The film partnered with NBCUniversal for advertising. Spots for the film appeared on Bravo, E!, USA, Syfy, Telemundo, and mun2. A customized page was created on Fandango. In May 2014, Marvel announced that Spider-Man's costume from the film would be shown within Marvel: Avengers Alliance.

Home media

The film has an alternate ending in which Peter Parker's father meets Peter at Gwen's resting place. Creative agency Deckhouse Digital was hired to produce several animated GIFs ahead of the DVD/Blu-ray release as part of a sponsored ad campaign on Tumblr. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment for digital download on August 5, 2014 and was released on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and DVD on August 19, 2014.

Critical response

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 received mixed reviews from film critics and audiences. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 52% based on 278 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "While the cast is outstanding and the special effects are top-notch, the latest installment of the Spidey saga suffers from an unfocused narrative and an overabundance of characters." On Metacritic the film has a score of 53 out of 100, based on 49 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend revealed the average grade cinemagoers gave the film was "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

The main criticisms of the film were that its characters were underdeveloped, its script was crowded, and it was overlong. However, the special effects, chemistry between Stone and Garfield, Dane DeHaan's performance, the action scenes, and Hans Zimmer's musical score were met with high praise. Foxx's portrayal of Max Dillon/Electro was met with mixed reviews.

The Los Angeles Times said, "[The film is] overstuffed with plot lines, set pieces and villains, although stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone do their best to give the movie heart." Tim Robey of The Telegraph said, "Marc Webb's Spider-Man sequel is overstuffed with high-voltage villains, but the sparks between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone save the day". Simon Reynolds of Digital Spy said, "Peter's past, present and future all intertwine in a sequel that offers bang for your buck. That said you can't help [but] feel the franchise bean counters at work here thanks to all the ominous foreshadowing and unresolved character arcs. Too many cooks and all that ...". Kim Newman of Empire scored the film three out of five stars, saying: "A few too-broad gags aside — and even these are in the funky spirit of '60s Marvel — this is a satisfying second issue with thrills, heartbreak, gasps, and a perfectly judged slingshot ending." Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter said, "The eponymous hero hits his super-heroic stride here, as does Andrew Garfield in the role, especially when Spider-Man's alter ego Peter Parker learns there's always some fine print in a contract with this many benefits. The plot gets itself tangled up in multiple villain strands, but in the main, this installment is emotionally weightier and more satisfying than its predecessor." Guy Lodge of Variety said, "Redundancy remains a problem, but this overlong superhero sequel gets by on sound, fury and star chemistry." Richard Roeper gave the film a B+, stating that "It's about 20 minutes too long and it's overstuffed with too many characters and too many subplots, but there's enough good stuff in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 to warrant optimism about the next chapter of the franchise." A negative review came from Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, giving the film two stars out of four, he said: "Things go wrong quickly with Amazing 2. Am I the only one who hates the word Amazing to describe a movie that isn't? Just asking." IGN reviewer Daniel Krupa gave 6.9/10 and wrote, "Amazing Spider-Man 2 gets a lot right, yet there’s a constant awkwardness to the machinery of its plot; you can almost hear the cogs turning. However, what’s worse is that at times it becomes overtly patronising: there are flashing screens and computer voice-overs constantly telling you what something is or what something is doing, just in case the people in the back rows aren’t paying attention, which feels at odds with the film’s emotional intelligence.

Box office

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 grossed $202.9 million in the United States and Canada and $506.1 million in other countries for a worldwide gross of $709 million.

The film grossed $8.7 million on its early Thursday night showings. It finished its opening weekend in first place with $91.6 million, almost $30 million more than the opening weekend gross of the first film. In its second weekend the film grossed $35.5 million (falling 61%) and dropped to second at the box office behind newcomer Neighbors. It was similar to the 61.5% second week drop of Spider-Man 3 in 2007.

Outside North America, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opened on April 16, 2014 to $2.73 million in the UK and to $190,000 in Belgium, while opening to $1.44 million in Australia and $1.11 million in Germany. The film's release in India was the biggest opening weekend for an American film at that point with ₹41 crore (US$6.4 million). Its final box office collection was $13.44 million there, one of the highest of all time by a hollywood film. In China, the film played on 11,002 screens, which is the biggest release of any film in history. On its opening day in Hong Kong, the film earned $1.23 million, the highest opening gross in the territory.

Cancelled franchise and second reboot

Sony had originally intended the film to launch an expansive film universe around Spider-Man to compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In 2013, Sony announced a third Amazing Spider-Man film with a release date of June 10, 2016, which Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Jeff Pinkner would return to write, and a fourth film with a release date of May 4, 2018. Additionally, the series was to include spin-off films featuring the Sinister Six and Venom, with Drew Goddard writing and directing Sinister Six and Kurtzman directing a Venom script co-written by himself, Orci, and Ed Solomon. Sinister Six had been planned for a November 11, 2016 release. Additionally, by August 2014, Sony had hired Lisa Joy Nolan to write the script for a 2017 film starring Felicia Hardy / Black Cat. In addition, Sony revealed plans for a spin-off based on Spider-Man 2099 to be released in late 2017.

However, between December 2013 and the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in May 2014, Garfield and Webb revealed that while they would both return for the third film, neither was certain of their involvement in the fourth, with Webb adding he would certainly not be directing. Following the mixed critical reviews and franchise-low box office performance of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the future of the franchise was unclear. By July 2014, Orci had left the third film to work on Star Trek Beyond, The Amazing Spider-Man 3, which would have included Chris Cooper returning as Norman Osborn and focused on Peter recovering from Gwen's death, was delayed to an unspecified date in 2018, and The Amazing Spider-Man 4 was moved to a later, unknown date.

Following the 2014 Sony Pictures Entertainment hack, Sony was revealed to have been in talks to have Sam Raimi return to the franchise to direct a new trilogy for the character and was in discussion with Marvel Studios about including Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Captain America: Civil War. Marvel reportedly was unhappy with some of the terms of the proposed arrangement, including the film rights staying with Sony, and both talks allegedly ceased. A deal between studios that allows Spider-Man to be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was reached. By March 2016, Sony was moving forward with the standalone Venom film with Dante Harper writing the script, Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach producing and Tom Hardy as the titular character; it will not be related to the Spider-Man film franchise or the MCU's Spider-Man.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

In February 2015, Sony and Marvel Studios announced that a new iteration of Spider-Man would appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the character appearing in Captain America: Civil War before Sony released a standalone film titled Spider-Man: Homecoming produced by Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal on July 7, 2017. Following this announcement, The Amazing Spider-Man 3 was cancelled. Sony Pictures will continue to finance, distribute, own and have final creative control of the Spider-Man films. Marvel Studios and Sony will explore opportunities to integrate other characters of the MCU into future Spider-Man films. Tom Holland stars as the new Spider-Man.