Spidey Gets Spiritual
As Spider-Man 3 releases to theaters, director Sam Raimi and cast talk about the biblical themes and spiritual imagery in the movies—especially in the latest chapter.
by Mark Moring
posted 05/01/07

Director Sam Raimi, a self-professed comic book geek when it comes to Spider-Man, was clearly the right man for the job when it came to making movies about the wall-crawling superhero.

More than just a Spidey fan, Raimi was particularly interested in developing the character of Peter Parker, the web slinger's very human—and very flawed—alter ego.

Sony Pictures knew they had the right man when they hired Raimi, now 47, seven years ago for the job. And it's paid off—earning the studio a whopping $1.6 billion worldwide through the first two films.

That figure is sure to soar—possibly to as much as $3 billion when it's all said and done—as Spider-Man 3, which cost a reported $250 millions to make, swings into theaters this week (late Thursday night in some markets, Friday everywhere else).

A huge part of the franchise's popularity has been Raimi's treatment not just of the action hero in the spider suit, but of the young man underneath. Raimi's direction and Tobey Maguire's acting have made Peter/Spidey arguably the most popular comic book icon in film history. the rest