The new Amazing Spider-Man teaser trailer hit the web this week, and showed us exactly what we saw in the first Spider-Man movie, back in 2002. Peter lives with his aunt and uncle, he’s a social misfit, and then one day he’s bitten by a radioactive spider and—boom—he has super powers! I’ve already seen this movie, right?
2 Reasons to Remake/Reboot a Movie
There are only two reasons to remake/reboot a movie: 1) If the movie was badly made in the first place, a remake/reboot can update it and give the material new life; 2) To expose the material to a new generation of fans.
The recent Star Trek movie is a great example of an almost-perfect remake/reboot. It updated the material, made it cool again, and exposed a new generation to Start Trek (since the last Star Trek franchise has been dead for years now).
But Spider-Man wasn’t done badly in the first place. Critics raved over the first and second installments. And even if the third installment wasn’t stellar, it still deserves an honorable mention in the pantheon of superhero movies.
And rebooting the series now hardly counts as exposing the material to a new generation. Spider-Man 3 was released in 2007, a mere 4 years ago. I suppose there may be some middle schoolers who weren’t exposed to the original franchise, but they can hardly count for a huge shift in the age demographics of the US.
The 3rd Reason
On the other hand, the Spider-Man franchise has proven to be extremely profitable. The original franchise grossed over $2.3 billion worldwide, and that’s not something studio executives want to walk away from anytime soon. And considering that Toby Maguire and Kirsten Dunst can hardly pass as young college students anymore, I suppose there was a third reason to make a new Spider-Man movie, with newer, younger, actors—profit.
Cynical-Man
But for all the cynicism of Hollywood money and the death of true creativity in entertainment, there is something to be said of the filmmakers and actors who want to tackle a project that is still relatively fresh in the minds of moviegoers. And, according to reports, this reboot is supposed to stick closer to the original source material and be more faithful to the characters—so maybe this version can offer us something the originals did not.
But can they pull it off, and not make it seem like I’m watching the same movie I did just a few years ago?
Check out the trailer below and leave your thoughts on the new Spider-Man in the comments.
James Ged is a writer, runner, and movie geek who blogs for Comcast.USdish about Digital TV and entertainment news. Follow him on Twitter: @James Ged
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