Spider-Man 2

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Sam Raimi directs. Bill Pope behind the camera. Danny Elfman scores. Bob Murawski cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Russian, Mandarin.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Budget of $200M — blockbuster tier. Only ~1% of films ever made reach this.
• 2Made its money back 3.9× over at the box office.
• 3Released 22 years ago.
• 4Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Russian, Mandarin.
• 5Part of the "Spider-Man Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
• 6343+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
• 7Directed by Sam Raimi, shot by Bill Pope. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 8Original score by Danny Elfman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 9Editor Bob Murawski shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 10Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst and James Franco carry the top of the cast.
• 11Marketing tagline: "There's a hero in all of us.".
• 12IMDB entry: tt0316654 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 1317,009 TMDB user ratings logged — serious cultural footprint.
• 14Classified under 15 themes, including "new york city", "dual identity", "love of one's life", "secret identity".
• 15Released under 23 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Bill Pope

Original score

Danny Elfman

Editing

Bob Murawski

Production design

Neil Spisak

Costume design

James Acheson

Makeup / hair

Trish Almeida

VFX supervisor

Greg Anderson

Sound

Paul N.J. Ottosson

Stunt coordinator

Dan Bradley

Runtime

127 min · 2h 7m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$200,000,000

Box office

$788,976,453

Return

394% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

PG-13

IMDB

Spider-Man 2 (2004) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

93% 🍅 Fresh

Metacritic

83/100

IMDB rating

7.5/10 · 777,496 votes

MPAA

PG-13

Part of

Spider-Man Collection

A superhero film series based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. The series is centered on Peter Parker, an academically gifted but socially inept freelance photographer who gets bitten by a genetically modified spider and gains spider-like abilities, all of which he uses to fight crime as a spider-masked vigilante, learning for himself that with great power comes great responsibility.

• 
  Spider-Man

  2002
• 
  Spider-Man 2

  2004 · this one
• 
  Spider-Man 3

  2007

Also by

Sam Raimi

• 
  Ash vs Evil Dead

  2015 · ★ 7.8
• 
  Evil Dead II

  1987 · ★ 7.5
• 
  Spider-Man

  2002 · ★ 7.4
• 
  Army of Darkness

  1992 · ★ 7.3
• 
  The Evil Dead

  1983 · ★ 7.3
• 
  50 States of Fright

  2020 · ★ 7.2

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper Wallpaper Wallpaper Wallpaper Wallpaper Wallpaper Wallpaper Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Web's in my Business

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  The Train Fight

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  The Deal

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  Swinging into Action

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  Too Slow

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  John Frazier | Best VFX for 'Spider-Man 2' | Behind the Oscars Speech

  Featurette · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• tmdb395137282015-01-09
  ★ 8.5/10

  Superheroes Anonymous Tragically I am a Batman. An obsessive Caped Crusader comic-book collector until 1972 when my evil mother tossed the entire bunch in the garbage. My cousin was Spider-man. His noble mother preserved his collection with plastic envelopes and to this day they remain in pristine condition. What's truly tragic about being a Batman is that, despite Nolan's recent attempts (and questionable sincerity), the best Batman movie hasn't been made yet. As far as we know, with Batman's fate resting with Warner Bros, David Goyer, Zak Snider and Ben Affleck, the best Batman movie will not be possible for another decade or two, maybe three. I await thee Dark Knight. Again to my cousin's good fortune, the best movie about Spider-man has been established for quite some time. In fact, as a benchmark, it is arguably the best comic-book super-hero movie ever made. I didn't much love Sam Raimi's first Spider-man, and wished my mother could have disposed of his last entry, but Spider-Man 2 was, and is, the ultimate movie adaptation from comic-books to the movie screen. I was living in Shanghai in the summer of 2004 where I had to commute 3 hours on a hot and dizzy day to see it in English, and was fully rewarded for the effort. I was thrust into a imaginary super-hero world far more pleasing than anything I could remember since childhood. The 3 hour commute back home seemed like a breeze because Spider-man 2 awoke the wonder-struck boy inside me. It reminded me of a happy youth I forgot I had. It felt like Spidey was on the subway with me and would protect me from any harm. And he was just a boy himself! Batman? Who's that? For a super-hero story, nearly everything is perfect in this movie. Doc Ock couldn't have been better. He looked exactly the way he did, at the height of Stan Lee's eminence, in the brightly coloured panels fighting Spider-man in 1968. And sounded just like I imagined he would. Peter and Mary Jane were in their element and their friendship and romantic undertaking actually mattered. The story and action played out the way a comic book should. It was both intimate and fantastic. Trippy, wonderful and scary. It was like growing up all over again. The climax was a bit too flashy, loud and over-the-top at that time, but by today's standards, when compared to climactic train-wrecks in Man of Steel, Iron Man 3 and The Avengers, it's perfectly splendid. We are now being helplessly bombarded with comic book movies attacking us from every direction, all of them trying to out-do each other, jumping one shark after another. Every marginal superhero from Dr Strange to Shazam is being dusted off and hurled onto the big screen for our insatiable happy-childhood-appeasing appetite. The Marvel of Disney is launching at us one theme-park roller-coaster ride after another. Sony, with their Amazing Spider-man abominations, has completely lost it. Fox's X-Men and Fantastic Four proliferations hit the wall long ago. And DC, under the reigns of Warner Bros, has transfigured into its own worst enemy. A wretched mutation not even the Joker finds amusing. Turns out Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2 is the gold standard by which all comic-book movies, certainly those of the super-hero variety, are and, evidently, will be set. Lucky cousin.

  Read full review ↓
• tmdb440066252019-03-09
  ★ 8/10

  I don't think anyone can review this movie better than what Roger Ebert said about it back in 2004: "It's a real movie, full-blooded and smart, with qualities even for those who have no idea who Stan Lee is. It's a superhero movie for people who don't go to superhero movies, and for those who do, it's the one they've been yearning for." I also don't think any film has so eloquently defined a hero the way Aunt May does in a wonderfully heartfelt and poignant scene half way through the film. I do think the villain of Doctor Octopus is underdeveloped in both logic and motivation (although Alfred Molina is great), Mary Jane Watson is too dependent on the men in her life, and the friendship arc between Peter and Harry is a bit contrived, but none of these flaws affect what is otherwise a beautifully constructed film and a worthy sequel to the original.

  Read full review ↓
• Justin Lopez2019-11-06

  Sony did a great job of focusing on what really matters in this movie - the character. Here we see a relatable Peter Parker who can't seem to catch a break and when he does it just feels so satisfying to watch him rise up from all the challenges he faced.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Marvel Enterprises

  US

• LA

  Laura Ziskin Productions

  US

• 

  Columbia Pictures

  US

Key crew

• ProducerAvi Arad
• ProducerLorne Orleans
• ProducerLaura Ziskin
• Executive ProducerJoseph M. Caracciolo Jr.
• Executive ProducerKevin Feige
• Executive ProducerStan Lee
• EditorBob Murawski
• CastingDianne Crittenden
• Production DesignNeil Spisak
• Set DecorationJay Hart
• Costume DesignJames Acheson
• Senior AnimatorCinzia Angelini
• Production AssistantAlexa Sheehan
• Production AssistantBilly Taylor
• ProstheticsGary Archer
• ScreenstoryAlfred Gough
• ScreenstoryMiles Millar
• ScreenstoryMichael Chabon
• Art Department ManagerJohn Dillon
• Co-ProducerGrant Curtis
• OrchestratorSteve Bartek
• Costume DesignGary Jones
• MusicianArmen Ksajikian
• StuntsLisa Hoyle

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• new york city
• dual identity
• love of one's life
• secret identity
• superhero
• pizza boy
• based on comic
• sequel
• romance
• doctor
• scientist
• tentacle
• death
• super villain
• young adult

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical (limited)2024-04-22PG-13· Re-Release
• Theatrical (limited)2025-09-27PG-13· Fathom Events (Spider-Man 2.1 / 4K Restoration)
• Theatrical2004-06-30PG-13

Also known as

International titles

• Spajdermen 2RS
• Spáinterman 2GR
• Spider-Man 2 LivesUS
• Spider-Man 2: The IMAX ExperienceUS
• Spider-Man: No MoreUS
• Spider-Man IIUS
• Spider-Man 2 - Spider-Man ist zurückDE
• Spaĭdŭr-men 2BG
• Lyudyna-pavuk 2UA
• Hämähäkkimies 2FI
• ობობა-კაცი 2GE
• სპაიდერმენი 2GE
• Spider-Man 2.1US
• スパイダーマン2：2004JP
• Người Nhện 2VN