There was just no getting away from the monster that was the first Spiderman movie. The 2002 huge international hit movie made Tobey Maguire a household name and made the studio over $800 million. It gathered in Oscar nominations and reigns today as one of the best movies ever made. It was thought that no effort could ever top that first Spiderman movie and that had a lot to do with all of the previous attempts to put Spiderman on the big screen. Spiderman had been seen in classic super hero cartoon since 1967 and in comic books for years before that. Fans of the wall climber were screaming for a live action Spiderman because, while the cartoon was campy and fun and had a theme song everyone knew and could sing along with, the animation was always bad and looked rushed as everyone was sure it was since they kept using the same footage over and over again. In 1978 the world got what it wanted as Nicholas Hammond was tapped to play Peter Parker and Spiderman in what was on of the most anticipated television series ever. In the end the terrible special effects, bad acting, and horrible scripts killed the series after only 15 episodes and many people thought that a live action Spiderman would be impossible. But finally in 2002 someone got it right and the fans proved that they were dying for Spiderman as the movie went on to make over $800 million. All was good and then a sequel was announced.

Spiderman 2 was a widely anticipated movie but many wondered if the sequel could compare to the original that had gathered hundreds of millions of dollars and Oscar nominations. Spiderman 2 was hailed as a much better story that the first movie, much better special effects, and incredible acting and not only did the 2004 sequel also bring in around $800 million in box office receipts but is also got three Academy Award nominations of which it won one Oscar for best visual effects. Tobey Maguire was now a household name and pretty much known forever as Spiderman but when you find out that Spiderman 2 almost didn’t get made the way it did it makes you wonder if the producers realize that you don’t mess with success.

Tobey Maguire put up a bit of a fight before finally reporting for work on Spiderman 2. He had decided that he would rather film the movie Seabiscuit than Spiderman 2 as he did not want to be known as Spiderman, he did not want to be defined by one role. The producers of Spiderman 2 let Maguire make Seabiscuit but told him he needed to report to Spiderman 2 right after filming on Seabiscuit was done. After Seabiscuit Maguire began to complain of an aching back and said he might not be able to make it to the set for Spiderman 2 and asked the producers to wait. The producers, tired of Maguire’s obvious stalling, started production with Brokeback Mountain star Jake Gyllenhaal as Spiderman. Filming was ready to begin without a script when Tobey Maguire decided he did want to be Spiderman after all and reported for work on the set within a few days. So the Spiderman franchise rolled on to the delight of the fans and to the satisfaction of the producers who still wound up with shooting beginning without a script.