It’s undeniably true that Stephen Norrington’s Blade and Bryan Singer’s X-Men helped lay the groundwork for the incoming explosion in popularity of superhero cinema, but things didn’t hit the stratosphere until Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man arrived in the summer of 2002.
The Daywalker and the merry band of mutants had done decent business at the box office, but the fact the live-action debut of Peter Parker on the big screen earned over twice as much at the box office than Blade and X-Men combined signaled that comic book adaptations weren’t just a passing fad.
Even that’s understating it significantly in a world where Kevin Feige’s Marvel Cinematic Universe is 40-odd projects deep, but at the time he was a fairly lowly associate producer on Tobey Maguire’s debut under the spandex, with an entire studio to call his very own nothing but a twinkle in the eye and far-fetched dream.
It may have been more than two decades since Willem Dafoe first hammed it up as the Green Goblin, but Spider-Man clearly hasn’t lost its luster, nor has its status as a certifiable comic book classic been reduced in any way, shape, or form. As if you needed any indication, look no further than its current performance on streaming.
Per FlixPatrol, the web-slinging wonder is currently one of the most-watched features on Disney Plus, Max, and Prime Video, ensuring that the blockbuster to change the face of the industry continues riding a never-ending wave of popularity.
Published: Aug 9, 2023 01:38 am