Spider-Man

Spider-Man was an extremely successful comic created by Marvel comic's genius Stan Lee. In 2002, the webbed superhero finally made his debut on the big screen. Director Sam Raimi used the comic book as a major inspiration and worked closely with the creators to ensure artistic consistency with the movie's source. The 2002 Spider-Man film starred Tobey Maguire as troubled but precocious teenager Peter Parker. Spider-Man is the tale of Peter Parker's relationship with Mary Jane Watson, who is played by Kirsten Dunst.

Although the film cost almost $140 million to make, it ended up doing extremely well at the box office and inspired a sequel called Spider-Man 2, which premiered in June of 2004. James Franco starred as Peter Parker's friend/nemesis, Harry. The plot revolves around Peter Parker's double life as a typical teenager and superhero. While on a tour of a top-secret laboratory, Peter gets bitten by a bioengineered spider. Although the bite heals quickly, Peter finds himself imbued with special spider-related superpowers.

In addition to being able to shoot web strands out of his wrists, Peter can climb buildings, sense events with a psychic-like ability, and leap from building to building easily. The movie originally featured New York City's Twin Towers prominently, but images of the World Trade Center were digitally removed from the final cut after the September 11 terrorist attacks of 2001.

Spider-Man grossed more than $114 million in its first weekend--a world record. It also helped launch Tobey Maguire as an international star. Plans are in the works to release a third sequel in the franchise by 2007.