Trivia: The way Spidey is head down wearing the black suit is a reference to the comic Spider-Man #8.
Trivia: In a strange bit of irony, the red-headed Mary Jane is played by Kirsten Dunst, who is naturally blond... while the blonde Gwen Stacey is portrayed by Bryce Dallas Howard, who is naturally a red-head.
Trivia: The "Birth of Sandman" scene in which Sandman reconstitutes himself took over six months to produce because the particle effects were so intricate to render, and the filmmakers wanted to really nail the look, pacing and tone of the scene. In fact, before producing that scene, the visual effects artists actually studied sand looks, physics and dynamics for several years, knowing that Sandman was intended to be a major villain in the third film.
Trivia: For the scene where Spider-Man punches through Sandman's chest, a very simple trick was used. For that scene, Spider-Man was played by a stuntman/actor who really was missing his arm from the elbow-down. Therefore, he was able to punch Sandman in the chest, and have it looks like his arm went "into" him. To tie the scene together, simple digital effects were added to put in the rest of the arm coming out of Sandman's back.
Trivia: After the release of the film, the studio was keen to make at least two more films, and many of the actors in addition to director Sam Raimi signed contracts for a fourth and fifth installment before it was canceled. Tobey Maguire reportedly had a "play or pay" clause in his contract due to the possible time commitment they would have required, and received a rather substantial upfront payment for the movies despite them eventually being canceled.
Trivia: The script went through a lot of changes during pre-production. At one point, Sam Raimi and James Franco were working together to hone the character of Harry, and they came up with an alternate version of the story where Harry had become a violent but freewheeling playboy who had a group of super-powered showgirls (called the "Goblets") in his penthouse that he had treated with the performance enhancers and would serve as his lovers/bodyguards. Although both Franco and Raimi found the idea absolutely hilarious, it was quickly cut for obviously being way too far over-the-top.
Trivia: The only entry in the trilogy with a score not composed by Danny Elfman. Elfman and director Sam Raimi had a lot of conflicts during production of "Spider-Man 2", and had a falling out. Elfman and Raimi eventually settled their differences and have since started working together again, including notably on the film "Oz: The Great and Powerful."
Trivia: The photographer shooting Gwen Stacey (Bryce Dallas Howard) during the crane scene is reportedly also a magician and had previously performed magic tricks at one of Bryce Dallas Howard's birthdays when she was a child. She was pleasantly surprised when she got to set and discovered she had met him years prior.
Trivia: Footage from an early costume test revealed that at one point, the black Spider-Man suit was going to look exactly as it did in the comics. (Smooth black with a massive white Spider-Symbol) This idea was dropped, however, as it made more sense for it to emulate the original Spider-Man suit to which it bonded.
Trivia: In Harry's lab, notice that one of the masks in the background is a golden color. This is a subtle nod to the villain "Hobgoblin", who looks extremely similar to the "Green Goblin", except his costume is predominately a yellow color.
Trivia: Filming in New York City cost the production $1 million per day. This is part of the reason the budget got somewhat out of control.
Trivia: A number of characters and plot-points present in the final film were not in Sam Raimi's original script. Eddie Brock/Venom was not supposed to be in the film at all (as Raimi wasn't a fan of the character and felt he wouldn't know how to portray him properly) and secondary characters like Gwen Stacey and several others were also not present. The studio forced Raimi to add them to the script late in the writing process (and also forced Raimi to eject other characters he had planned on using) to try and capitalize on their success with fans, causing Raimi and his co-writers to have to scramble to restructure the film to fit them in. This is a large part of the reason for the shaky pacing and structure of the film.
Trivia: While the studio has only acknowledged that the budget was just over $250 million, insiders have suggested that its actual budget was closer to $350 million once you account for things like research and development for the visual effects, the astronomical cost of filming in New York, extensive last-minute reshoots, etc, making it one of the most expensive movies ever made.
Trivia: Scarlett Johansson was reportedly a serious contender for the role of Gwen Stacy. Ironically, she would later go on to play the character "Black Widow" in the MCU - a spy/assassin whose name is taken from a breed of spider.
Trivia: Reportedly, astronaut John Jameson from "Spider-Man 2" was originally going to have a cameo where he'd be returning to Earth from a space mission, and the symbiote (presumably drifting through space) would latch onto his shuttle to explain where it came from. This scene was deemed to be too long and costly by the studio, so the symbiote had to be hastily re-written to have arrived on a meteor.
Trivia: Director Sam Raimi has openly stated that he disliked how the film turned out, even going so far as to call it "awful" in a podcast interview for Nerdist. While he refused to openly lay blame on the studio interference, he said that he "didn't believe in the characters," and stated that trying to follow his instincts to raise the stakes and make the story bigger after the first two movies ultimately "doomed" the film, as he should have just focused on progressing the character's various arcs.
Trivia: An alternate cut of the film was released on the movie's 10th anniversary in 2017. Dubbed the "Editor's Cut," this version of the film reinstates several deleted scenes, in addition to removing several other scenes for pacing reasons. It also features some alternative musical cues in key scenes. It was initially released as a digital exclusive, before being included in newer Blu-Ray and 4K releases of the "Spider-Man" trilogy.
Trivia: This film features the final on-screen performance of Cliff Robertson, who portrays Uncle Ben in flashbacks. Robertson passed away in 2011, four years after the film's release.
Answer: At one point in time, Sony was set to make "Spider-Man 4" with director Sam Raimi and stars Tobey MacGuire and Kirsten Dunst. However, Raimi was unable to find a script he was satisfied with after many months of working with different writers, and he was having issues with the studio attempting to force the film into a 2011 release date, which he felt wouldn't give him the time he needed to make a quality film. Thus, he and the actors dropped out and the studio instead opted to go ahead with a reboot, in the form of The Amazing Spider-Man.