Sam Raimi Says Trying To Top First Two Movies Doomed Spider-Man 3

By Nick Tylwalk | Dec 31, 2014

We can all agree that with the exception of movies that are team-based to begin with, like The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, trying to cram too many characters into super hero movies is a recipe for disaster. It got especially bad in the past due to some unwritten rule that studios had saying sequels needed more villains. Hence, we got Batman and Robin (though there were more things wrong with that film than just too many crooks) and Spider-Man 3, low points for both series.

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Now Sam Raimi, who directed two good Spider-Man flicks before the dreadful third movie, has gone on the record to talk about what caused the wheels to come off the franchise. In keeping with our theory, it sounds like there was studio pressure to make the third Tobey Maguire outing bigger than the previous two, though he also isn’t passing the buck entirely to Sony.

Here’s what Raimi told the Nerdist podcast (by way of Cinema Blend):

"[Topping the previous two films] went into the thinking of a lot of people that worked on Spider-Man 3, and it was not good for us."

No, no it wasn’t. The good part is that I think lessons have been learned from the overstuffed super hero sequels of the past. Marvel isn’t giving us Ultron and Kang in the second Avengers movie — at least not that we know of — nor do I expect that Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice is going to have three different DC villains shoehorned in. Warner Bros. does have a bunch of bad guys coming in one movie in Suicide Squad, but that’s different since they’re the protagonists.

Even Sony, who blundered into the same trap in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, might have caught onto the “more is not necessarily better” trend since it’s going to focus on the Sinister Six as the headliners of their own movie as well. I’m not saying I think it will be a slam dunk hit, but it’ll have a better shot at succeeding than trying to fit them all into one film as enemies for Spidey.

In the meantime, it’s good to hear Raimi own up to his part in the excess. If he had it to do over, he’s probably realize that Venom could have been a compelling enough character to help carry a movie as the lone villain. But that still doesn’t excuse this (and thanks to Cinema Blend again for reminding us of this too!):

Now dig on this!

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