The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

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Plot

Years ago Peter Parker finds his home broken into and his father's notes ruffled through. His father panics and grabs his notes and his son, taking him to stay with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. The film then cuts to years later and Peter is now in high school and his parents are dead. One day when defending a student against the bully Flash Thompson, he is beaten severely, but as a result ends up meeting Gwen Stacey. Back at home when digging out the basement, Peter finds a briefcase full of his father's old documents. It leads him to Oscorp Industries to try and learn more about what his father was working on. He learns that Gwen Stacey works there and she lets him stay after he impresses Doctor Curt Connors with his knowledge of cross human/animal genetics. Peter sneaks into a room where Oscorp is attempting to develop extra strong spider-web like tethers, accompanied by genetically altered spiders. Peter is bitten by one and is forced to leave the premises. On the subway he quickly learns that he is stronger and can stick to almost any surface now, only to find the spider that bit him hanging from the bite mark on his back.

Peter goes to Curt Conner's home and tells him that he used to work with his father. Connors talks with him about their project and together the two of them begin to develop a reptilian based serum that will allow him to regrow his lost arm. Meanwhile at school Peter is taking advantage of his new powers to humiliate Flash, only to be punished for it by his Uncle and the school later. When he gets home Peter and Ben have an argument about it and Peter storms out. Ben runs after him but can't find him, however Peter is just one block away trying to buy a milk from a convenience store. The clerk won't let him take two pennies from the take a penny leave a penny tray to pay for it, so Peter has to leave, but as he is walking out he sees a mugger robbing the place but refuses to help out. The mugger bumps into Uncle Ben outside though and drops a gun, Ben leaps for the gun but is shot in the process.

Spidey must face down the Lizard to save the city

Peter realizes that he is the reason why his uncle is dead, so he goes out to try and find anyone who matches the description of the man who shot him. He quickly realizes that he can't go out with his face exposed for fear of criminals finding out who he is, so he begins to build a suit that is designed for acrobatics, and creates a pair of "web shooters" that can disperse the webbing within the pellets that Oscorp has created that hold the strong experimental tethers. He has now created a vigilante persona to fight crime with, but not everyone is pleased, including Captain Stacey who is trying to hunt him down. Things get worse when he is invited over to Gwen's place for dinner, learning that Gwen actually likes him too. There Captain Stacey tells Peter that Spider-Man doesn't care about saving lives, just about going out on a mission to find someone and is disrupting the law in the process. Meanwhile Dr. Connors is told if he doesn't test his reptilian formula on humans soon then he will loose all his funding, and his formula is confiscated by one of Norman Osborn's assistants to be tested at a local hospital. With no other choice, Conner tests the formula on himself and his arm is regrown, only to experience further mutations as he transforms into a reptilian monster called "The Lizard." Spider-Man sees a commotion happening on the bridge and dives in to help, witnessing the giant monster tearing through a series of parked cars. He struggles to keep one car from falling into the water, and to calm a child that is trapped inside he takes off his mask to show him who he is. After saving the boy he tells the kid's father that he is Spider-Man, and Peter swings off, now knowing what he has to do.

Down in the sewers Curt Connors returns to normal, physically, but psychologically the formula has changed him, he now wants to continue using this formula on himself. Peter goes back to the lab and finds that everyone is gone and meets Curt Connors there. Connors says he's not going to give up the formula and tells Peter to get out, but on his way out Peter notices that one of the rats they experimented on with the Lizard formula has now mutated into a monster. He goes to the police but Captain Stacey calls him crazy for believing that Curt Connors is this monster roaming around the city. Peter sees a newspaper asking for footage of this monster, so he goes into the sewer where he sees several breeds of lizards crawling into a drain. Down in the sewer he sets up a camera and waits for the Lizard to show up, but is still taken by surprise and is beaten to fiercely by his opponent. He manages to escape, but Connors finds the camera and sees that it belongs to Peter Parker.

"I'm gonna throw you out the window now"

Connors burst into the school and starts destroying everything to try and find Parker. Peter finds an opportunity to change into costume and fights the Lizard. He is saved by Gwen who attacks the Lizard with a trophy, giving Peter the chance to web up the Lizard and toss Gwen out the window on a strand of webbing. The cops show up and the Lizard flees. Peter knows he has to go after him though and heads into the sewers in search of him. After this he meets Gwen again and tells her that he knows that the reason why Connors is the monster he is is because of him, he showed him how to make the formula, so he needs to fix it. Meanwhile in the sewers Connors realizes that he must perfect humans and make them superior like he now is and plans to release his chemicals in an airborne explosion.

The Lizard breaks out of the subway and sprays some police officers with his chemical which begins to transform them into Lizard creatures like himself. Peter has to race to stop him but the police are out in full force to stop him and end up shooting him in the leg. Meanwhile Gwen Stacey is at Oscorp attempting to create a cure for the Lizard chemical. Spider-Man is surrounded by the police and has his mask ripped off by Captain Stacey. When he sees that its Peter, he realizes that he's not a vigilante and that he's actually trying to stop this monster, and that his daughter is at Oscorp right in the line of the Lizard's mission. He gives Peter his mask back and Spidey runs off. He doesn't have the strength though to climb all the way back to Oscorp, but he has help. The man whose son was saved by Spider-Man at the bridge runs a construction site and he calls up every crane in the city and has them line up for Spider-Man to swing on, so that he can make it all the way across the city in time.

Spidey swings in to save the day.

As he arrives at Oscorp Towers he already finds the Lizard setting up his chemical bomb. Outside the building Gwen hands her father the antidote and asks him to go help Peter. Spider-Man battles the Lizard on top of the tower, but when his web-shooters are destroyed and he is being choked by the Lizard's tail he can't fight back any more. Captain Stacey arrives and starts shooting the Lizard and tells Peter he can handle this. He hands Peter the antidote so he can get up to the bomb and switch out the formulas. However back down on the tower the Lizard stabs Captain Stacey through the stomach and makes his way back to Peter. The bomb goes off with the formula and reverts the Lizard back to Curt Connors, but it also knocks Peter off the side of the building. Connors, now back to normal both physically and mentally, grabs Peter and pulls him back up.

Peter watches as Captain Stacey dies, telling Peter that he's going to make enemies doing this so he asks Peter to promise that he'll leave Gwen out of it. Peter promises and stops seeing Gwen, not even being with her at her father's funeral. She comes to him and asks where he was, only to realize that he must have promised her father to leave her alone. Peter watches as she leaves, but Aunt May tells him that he's a good boy and they should be together. At the end of the film he sits behind Gwen in class and mentions that he may have to break the promise he made. Meanwhile Dr. Connors is sitting in prison for the crimes that the Lizard committed, only to be visited by a shadowy figure. The figure asks him if he told Peter about his parents, to which Connors tells the shadow to leave Peter alone, but the figure is gone.

Development

Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man

Sony had originally planned a Spider-Man 4 to be released in 2011 from Director Sam Raimi, who directed the first three Spider-Man films. Disagreement between Raimi and the producers over the projected budget (the budget for Raimi's Spider-Man 3 ballooned to $270 million dollars), over the script, and over casting for the villain(s) resulted in Raimi and cast departing the project.

Avi Arad, who had created the original deal between Sony and Marvel to make Spider-man, continued to work on continuing the franchise. With Matthew Tolmach, he began to search for someone with a good idea to helm a reboot.

While Marc Webb was talking to Arad and Tolmach about other projects, the two producers asked him what he would do with a Spider-man reboot. Webb, who was a fan of the comics, eagerly told an idea delving into Spidey's origins and his quest to find his parents. Arad and Tolmach liked his idea so much they decided to bring him in for further pitches for the director role of a Spider-man movie. Webb pleased Sony there and was contracted for the role. This role came a surprise, since Webb had only directed one movie before, and that had been a low-budget indie comedy ((500) Days of Summer).

Arad, Tolmach, and Webb decided to hire James Vanderbilt (Zodiac) to write the story. Many actors were considered for the role of Peter Parker/Spider-man. Candidates were asked to send their resume, photo, and a written statement of why they though they would be good for the role. Candidate Andrew Garfield, who had recently achieved fame with a supporting role in The Social Network but was a relative unknown, sent in a photo of him as a small child dressed as Spider-man and a lengthy essay describing how Spider-man had inspired him in a rough time as a kid. Webb found himself moved by this and, after Garfield preformed well in interviews, decided to hire him.

Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, likely due to her recent Golden Globe nomination for Easy A. Rhys Ifans was cast as antagonist The Lizard/Dr. Curt Conners. Martin Sheen and Sally Field were cast as Peter's uncle and aunt, Ben and May Parker. Denis Leary was cast as Captain George Stacy.

The reboot has been titled The Amazing Spider-Man after the long-running comic of the same name, and incidentally 2012 is also the 50th anniversary year of the character and franchise.

in 2010 Entertainment Weekly called Vanderbilt's script "gritty, contemporary" and referenced Christopher Nolan's reboot of the Batman film series as a guide. A decision was made early on to film in 3D using the latest evolution of that technology, the RED Epic camera. The Amazing Spider-Man is the first film ever to use this camera system which reportedly provides a very high resolution (5K). Writers Alvin Sargent (writer of the first three films) and Steve Kloves (writer of the Harry Potter film series) have also contributed to the screenplay.

In the July 15th, 2011, issue of Entertainment Weekly, Director Marc Webb characterized the film this way: "Ultimately what this movie is about is a kid who grows up looking for his father and finds himself. And that's a Spider-Man story we haven't seen before."

The first teaser trailer for the film was released during the San Diego International Comic-Com in July of 2011. It was also announced at Comic-Con that a video game tie-on from Beenox was in development to be released day and date with the movie, as well as an upcoming Marvel Select action figure line.

On January 8th, 2012, Spider-Man's spider symbol/logo appeared on some of the world's most iconic structures, such as the Colosseum of Rome, the Sydney Opera House, Le Arc de Triumphe in Paris, and the Kremlin in Moscow. This was part of a viral marketing campaign to promote a special 20 minute preview of the film which was shown in select theatres on February 6th, 2012, in major world cities such as New York, London, Paris, Moscow, Rio, L.A., Berlin, Madrid, Mexico City, Seoul, Tokyo, and Sydney. The trailer for the film was also shown at this event, and released online world wide on February 7th, 2012.

Filming

Pre-production began in May of 2010 with the initial casting process. Filming (or principle photography) began on December 6th, 2010, and wrapped on May 20th, 2011. Re-shoots were then conducted in November and December of 2011 during the post-production process. In all, filming locations included areas in and around Los Angeles, California, as well as in New York City, particularly for the re-shoots. Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee confirmed a cameo in the film which he called in a tweet his "best, most unusual one yet." The cameo supposedly involves Lee in an action sequence more elaborate than any other Stan Lee cameo for a Marvel film.

Last-Minute Changes

In the months leading up to The Amazing Spider-man's release, several clips and trailers were released. However, when the movie came out, many of these scenes weren't in the picture. After doing some research, Badass Digest came out with an article (that can be found here) indicating a substantially different story was shot but then reedited when it performed poorly with critics. These changes are:

-Badass Digest showed several moments from the trailers and several important images showing that a scene was shot where Mr. Ratha--the character who tries to use patients at the veteran's hospital as test subjects--is killed after trying to shoot Lizard in the sewer. In this scene, Lizard apparently explains to Spidey a bit of his origin and a detailed account of how his parents died. In the final cut of the movie, however, Spidey's parent's deaths were not explained and Mr. Ratha oddly disappears from the plot half-way through the film.

-In the original cut (according to Badass Digest) Lizard's wife and possibly his son were important to the plot. In several scenes, Dr. Connors (aka Lizard) is wearing an engagement ring, and an old casting announcement said that Annie Parisse was to be "the villain's wife."

-Apparently, Doctor Connors explains to Peter in a deleted scene that his parents (and maybe himself) tested on him as a young child, causing Peter to react differently to the spider bite. This is supported by earlier leaks on the story and director Marc Webb's hesitance to deny them.

-Spider-man's search to find Uncle Ben's killer apparently had more of a closure.

-The dinner table discussion that turned into an argument between Captain Stacy and Peter was apparently longer and more coherent. Peter apparently got defensive when Stacy referenced his parents.

-The idea that Peter's parents were killed in a plane crash was added in later. Badass Digest showed how Peter's argument with Uncle Ben where he says his father left him doesn't make sense if his father died in a crash, and the swift evacuation of the house doesn't fit in with the plane crash. Badass Digest hypothesized that in the original version, they just disappeared.

-A lengthy (and expensive) POV scene where Spidey swings on webs through the city was cut, even though this was the first and most critical part of the film's marketing.

-Peter's reference to an "intimidating doorman" refers to a cut scene where Peter argues with a doorman. This scene is available on line.

-Badass Digest also said it was quite likely that the SWAT team turned into Lizards were what injured Spidey in the original draft.

Further Developments

With the DVD release of The Amazing Spider-man, Sony released a few of the deleted scenes. While the death of Mr. Gupta was not one of them, there was one emotional scene where Dr. Connors talks to his young son. The entire character of the son was edited out of the film.

Music

The film's score will be done by noted two time Academy Award winning composer, James Horner. Horner has composed scores for over 100 films in his time.

2011 Comic-Con

Though the picture was not finished with post-production work, Sony recognized that it was imperative to build marketing momentum at the 2011 Comic Convention. Before the convention, anticipation for The Amazing Spider-man was not very high, due to the short time since Sam Raimi's hugely popular series and a perception Sony had severely hurt Spider-man 3 by insisting Venom be included.

In an elaborate marketing ploy, Sony had their Comic Con presentation interrupted by a young man dressed in a cheap Spider-man costume running to the microphone and saying how much Spidey meant to him. The masked fanboy charmed audiences, and then shocked them by taking off his head covering to reveal himself as Andrew Garfield (who plays Spider-man). Garfield then gave a speech talking about how much Spider-man meant to him and helped him as a kid.

Later in the festival, Avi Arad showed a 3D POV clip featuring Spider-man web-slinging through New York City. This clip was very well received.

Comic Con ended with anticipation exponentially higher than before.