The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

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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. Sony hired writer James Vanderbilt (Zodiac) to pen a reboot of the series and hired Marc Webb to direct for a July 3, 2012, release. Andrew Garfield was cast as Peter Parker, Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey, and Rhys Ifans as antagonist The Lizard/Dr. Curt Conners. 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.

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.