Spider-Man
Hollywood loves a successful movie series. The success of one film should in theory help to build the next one in the sequence. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a great example. It’s the best of the Tom Holland era Spider-Man films and the most successful. It didn’t hurt that Tom Holland and Zendaya are the social media equivalent of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.
Spider-Man could be described as an IP franchise, but that sounds dismissive. I prefer the term movie series. The movie series formula is as old as Hollywood itself, after all, the industry was built on theatrical serials. The serial uses a repeated formula to generate multiple successes. And, yes… multiple profits. The key to a movie series is having a Hollywood star with an audience-friendly face.
Looking back on some examples, there’s Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Arc (1981). He personified the character Indiana Jones. Jennifer Lawrence was Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games (2012). Sigourney Weaver was Elen Ripley in Alien (1979). Keanu Reeves was Neo in The Matrix (1999). Eddie Murphy was Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop (1984). Clint Eastwood was Dirty Harry in Dirty Harry (1971). The lead actor in each of these movie series personified the hero.
What happens when the hero changes? For a time, Sean Connery was James Bond in films like Dr. No (1962), but there have been multiple Bonds. Each one has his own characteristics. Likewise, the Spider-Man movie series also has multiple actors who have taken on the role.
Toby Maguire’s Spider-Man (2002) was essentially Paul Hood, the character he played in The Ice Storm (2002). He was a youthful, round-faced, comic-reading kid, finding his way in the world. There was a classic coming-of-age sensitivity and vulnerability to the character. This was different to the chiselled muscularity of Batman, who falls into the wealthy aristocrat vigilante type of superhero.
Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man was more confident, with a sarcastic wit. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man feels lovably goofy, with a high-tech Spy Kids (2001) vibe. Everyone was talking about Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s action scenes, but it was the emotional range of the story that impressed me.
On one level Spider-Man is an old fashioned coming-of-age story. The misunderstood teenager. It’s also a romantic first love story and a special effects dominated action adventure. Comedy – making the audience laugh – is integral to most movie series, including Spider-Man.
People tend to pick the Spider-Man actor they grew up with as their favourite. Much like audiences have done with James Bond. The success of Spider-Man comes from making each reincarnation feel unique while retaining the same intrinsic character.