Spider-Man Movies Will Never Stop — And Now You Can Find Out Why (EXCLUSIVE)

The Films Were Born Out of Stan Lee’s Frustration

In the early 1980s, Stan Lee was growing increasingly anxious that Marvel’s numerous properties were not being exploited on film or television in the way that DC’s had (hard to believe such days existed). Marvel, he felt, needed something special, and he believed he had found it in screenwriters Ted Newsom and John Brancato.

The duo were a pair of writers that were determined to break into Hollywood and felt they had found a possible inroad through a developing friendship with Lee. Intrigued, he hired them to pen a screenplay adaptation of the old Marvel World War II title, Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos. The plan was that Lee, armed with the screenplay and comics, would make the studio rounds to see if he could drum up some interest in the property. He began, though, with exploitation company Cannon Films, who had acquired the rights to Spider-Man, among others.

Spider-Man: Take One

From the outset, the duo pitched a story that differed from the comics in that it intertwined the origins of both Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus rather than keep them separate. “We took the approach that we couldn’t presuppose anyone knew anything about these characters,” says Ted Newsom. “So what you had to do was a creation story, and if you were going to have a supervillain, you had to create him, too. It can’t just come out of nowhere. So Stan had a treatment from which we worked our story. We made alterations and changes. Cannon approved that treatment and we started scripting from there.”

Adds John Brancato, “The problem with any superhero comic, obviously, is to try and find the right tone. Spider-Man, unlike Superman, always had a tongue-in-cheek, self-conscious approach to itself. It was difficult to capture that and make it play as a satisfying action film.”

“It’s one of the reasons Spider-Man was so lovable,” he adds. “But it was also a tough tone to capture. That was always the challenge of it. Superman: The Movie was so mythic and grandiose in the way it was presented, and Spider-Man could never be that. It was always the younger brother to that storyline. It didn’t take itself as seriously.”

Spidey Gets a Director

Back in the 1980s, one of Cannon’s go-to directors was Joe Zito, who had scored with a number of Chuck Norris action flicks, including Invasion USA and Missing in Action. He was chosen to direct Spider-Man, and he was absolutely stoked.

“I had been doing comic book type movies and I liked those strange, dark worlds,” Joe expresses. “There was no Batman movie yet, remember, and I had this vision of having this dark world with Spider-Man being the burst of color at the center of it.

“He had to save the world, but on the other hand, he couldn’t get laid,” he laughs regarding Peter Parker. “He was struggling through school. It was fun and real and it was a way to take something that was such solid comic material and have it touch the world. It wasn’t like Superman, who had no moral dilemma. He was completely conflicted. I loved it.”

The Collapse of Cannon Films

Things go south for Cannon Films by late ’86/early ’87, budgets are slashed and the company teeters on the verge of bankruptcy. Naturally this impacts on Spider-Man.

Ethan Whiley, who was the writer about that time, explains, “My general structure and concept was to have Peter Parker become Spider-Man almost at the end of the movie. My thinking was that I wouldn’t have the money to have him flying all over the city, doing lots of, what would have been at that time, blue screen shots. This was before the age of digital filmmaking. And also the practicality of giant set pieces and shooting in the middle of cities. So I avoided a lot of that and really focused on the evolution of Peter Parker into Spider-Man. I kind of explored that aspect of the story in more detail, perhaps, than earlier or later drafts did. It was also his coming to terms with his moral responsibility to society. From there, how does he start designing the costume? How does he get it together and where does his own personal tragedies finally propel him to become a vigilante, essentially? The script ended with his finally realizing that this is his destiny, to become Spider-Man.”

The Web Begins to Tangle

Cannon co-founder Menahem Golan left the company in the hands of his cousin, Yoram Globus, and part of his exit deal was the rights to Spider-Man. His next step was to try and raise the money to finally shoot the film, which he accomplished by selling the worldwide television rights to the proposed project to Viacom, with Columbia Tri-Star stepping in to handle the home video release. Then there was yet another independent studio, Carolco, the company behind such hits as Basic Instinct, Rambo: First Blood Part II, and Total Recall.  Meeting with Golan at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival, Carolco’s Mario Kassar and Peter Hoffman, convinced him that they would be able to finance a fifty million dollar version of Spidey, for which 21st Century Films (Golan’s new company) would receive five million dollars while Golan himself would receive one million. He signed a deal with Carolco, adding that his years of pushing the project would require that he be listed as the film’s producer in the credits. While this didn’t seem like a sticking point at the time — despite the baggage that Golan’s name inevitably brought with it — it was a contractual decision that would end up biting everyone in the arse. That became apparent with Carolco’s choice of writer/director in late 1991.

James Cameron Enters the Fray

Carolco knew that James Cameron, who had made Terminator 2: Judgment Day for them, would be the right man for the job.  Cameron was paid three million dollars for coming on board, which was bad news for Golan — it seems that Cameron’s standard contract gives him approval of every credit and he was adamant that Golan’s name not appear on the film. Believing that this was his last shot at legitimacy, by April of 1993 Golan had filed suit against Carolco, which, heading towards its own bankruptcy, sold its rights to Spider-Man to MGM.

At that moment, the legal floodgates opened, with anyone who had ever signed a contract pertaining to the Spider-Man movie hitting the courtroom. In early 1994, Carolco sued Viacom and Tri-Star in an effort to do away with the Cannon-agreed-upon deals pertaining to television and home video rights. Tri-Star and Viacom, naturally, launched a countersuit against not only Carolco, but 21st Century Films and Marvel as well. Due to the fact that MGM was owned by the Pathe Group, it was their corporate belief that the rights to Spider-Man, especially since they had begun with Cannon (plus the deal with Carolco), sued Menahem Golan, Yoram Globus, 21st Century Films, Paretti, Tri-Star, Viacom and Marvel. Things almost got laughable when, within the next twelve months, 21st Century Films, Marvel and Carolco all filed for bankruptcy.

Spider-Man: Down, but Not Out

Between all of these lawsuits, Cameron, who at that point was still attached to the project, wrote a fifty-seven-page “scriptment,” which was a combination script and story treatment that was designed to hit all of the high points of his proposed scenario. None of this really mattered, of course. What Cameron had written was not perceived to be nearly as important as the fact that he had written anything at all, and that the plan called for him to direct — if the project’s legal headaches could be dealt with.

But it all came to an end on March 1, 1999. On that day, Sony issued the following press release: “Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and Marvel Enterprises have signed an agreement that sets the stage for launching the long anticipated Spider-Man filmed entertainment franchise. The agreement will enable SPE and Marvel to produce motion pictures and television series based on the Spider-Man character. Additionally, Marvel and SPE have established a joint venture to exploit picture-related and series-related merchandise.” The announcement of the agreement was made by SPE Chairman and CEO John Calley and Marvel Enterprises President and CEO Eric Ellenbogen and Chief Creative Officer, Avi Arad.

Spidey Makes His Home at Sony Pictures.

“’This is a great day for the studio,’ said Mr. Calley. ‘I am delighted that we will be able to bring this long sought after comic book hero to the world of Sony film and television entertainment.”

“Spider-Man is the crown jewel of Marvel’s vast character library,” noted Mr. Eric Ellenbogen. “Our pact with Sony is a giant step forward in leveraging Marvel content to the fullest across all media. I can’t imagine a more momentous new beginning for our company.”

Marvel’s Avi Arad added, “In Sony we have a partner who completely understands the unlimited potential of Spider-Man. I couldn’t be more pleased with the enthusiasm and direction of Sony’s creative team.”

“In making the announcement, Mssers. Calley and Ellenbogen also noted that the pending lawsuits between the two companies over Spider-Man have ended and all claims have been settled between both parties. In addition, the disputes between Marvel, SPE and MGM on this matter have been resolved.”

How was it resolved? Variety summed up the situation as follows: “Litigation began in 1993 between 21st Century, Carolco, Sony and Viacom. MGM entered the fray in 1994, having purchased the rights from 21st Century and Carolco, both now bankrupt. Last year, Marvel, emerging from its own bankruptcy, came roaring back into the rights dispute, claiming that it had the exclusive right to make a Spider-Man film and that all the rights that had been granted had long since expired. With the case headed for a trial set to start Tuesday in LA Superior Court, a round of frenzied activity began. Last month, Judge Aurelio Munoz granted Marvel’s motions for summary judgment against MGM,” noting that MGM’s rights had expired in 1996. All rights, ruled the court (including the Cameron scriptment), were back in Marvel’s hands. Immediately thereafter, the deal with Sony was struck.

By that point, however, James Cameron had made Titanic and was no longer interested in making films on subject matters created by others. He was out — but that almost didn’t matter. Spider-Man was ready for his close-up.

The Tobey Maguire Era (2002-2007)

Tobey Maguire made his debut as Spider-Man in the 2002 film of the same name directed by Sam Raimi. This was followed in 2004 by Spider-Man 2 (an amazing film, that pit Tobey’s Spidey against Alfred Molina’s Dr. Octopus), and, then, 2007’s Spider-Man 3 (introducing a very different Venom from the one that Tom Hardy recently played). The last one was bizarre, with too many supervillains and Tobey doing a dance that nobody wants to think about… too late!

Andrew Garfield’s Reign (2012-14)

And it’s back to the beginning! Sam Raimi had been developing Spider-Man 4, but ultimately dropped out and the project collapsed. This eventually led to a reboot in the form of The Amazing Spider-Man, starring Andrew Garfield as Spidey and directed by Marc Webb.

“I assume when plans for Spider-Man 4 collapsed, the new director and producers wanted to put their own stamps on the material by rebooting and recasting,” muses Peter Sanderson. “But I think it was too early to do a retelling of the origin story so soon after Raimi’s version.”

He wasn’t alone.

Tom Holland Joins the Team

Financially, Sony’s Spider-Man franchise was in pretty good shape, the five films already produced pulling in nearly $4 billion. Creatively, not so much. Then, in 2015, a pretty historic deal was announced by both Marvel and Sony.

Peter offers, “My impression is that Sony and Marvel now share the character film rights for Spider-Man, and that while Sony has final creative control over the films, Marvel Studios and Marvel’s Kevin Feige are active producers on these movies. According to this agreement, Spider-Man can appear in Marvel Studios films (as he did in the last Avengers and Captain America films) and Marvel Studio characters can appear in Sony Spider-Man films (as Iron Man has done). My understanding is that this Marvel deal does not extend to Sony movies about Spider-Man supporting characters, like the Venom movie.”

Tom Holland Scores as Spider-Man

Mercifully, when Tom Holland appeared as Spider-Man for the first time in Captain America: Civil War and, then, Spider-Man: Homecoming, the decision was made to bypass the origin story (for what would have been the third time). “When Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios took on Spider-Man,” Peter details, “they clearly wanted to do the character more like he was in the 1960s comics: believably very young, and given to wisecracking, unlike Sony’s previous versions. Feige clearly also did not want to bore the audience by retelling the origin yet again.”

The Spin-Off Films

Venom was the first effort that Sony has made to expand their Spider-Man franchise beyond Spidey himself, using characters that have appeared in his comics. The film was a success, pulling in over $800 million at the box office, and it’s the only the first effort. The animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is being released on Dec. 14.

“I’m not clear how this fits into the deal with Marvel,” admits Peter, “but it involves alternate reality versions of Spider-Man, but not the original version — there’s a Peter Parker in it who is a middled-aged alternative version. It seems to be a Sony solo project, but Marvel did a company screening for it, something they do only for official Marvel Studios or Marvel Television projects.”

More Standalone Films Are on the Way

The success of Venom, and with Spider-Verse expected to be a hit as well, Sony has put various projects into development, the one furthest along being Morbius, the Living Vampire, starring Jared Leto in the title role. There are others, though Peter isn’t so sure that it’s an effective idea.

“There was a long-rumored Sinister Six movie, but I don’t see the point of a movie about Spider-Man villains but not Spider-Man,” he says. “I don’t see a Black Cat movie taking off unless they introduce her in a Spider-Man movie first, and a Black Widow or Catwoman movie could easily steal Black Cat’s thunder. I don’t see the point of a movie with Kraven the Hunter as the lead, since he is an anachronistic big game hunter who makes a good villain, but not a protagonist. Morbius could work in the right hands, but that would be a vampire horror movie, not a superhero movie.”

It will be interesting to see what else is in the creative pipeline, but no matter what, expect Spider-Man himself to be swinging his way through Manhattan for years to come.