The Amazing Spider-Man

The Amazing Spider-Man is a 2012 superhero film directed by Marc Webb based on the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. It is the fourth Columbia Pictures film that portrays Spider-Man in film and is a reboot of the Sam Raimi film series with Andrew Garfield replacing Tobey Maguire as the title role of the superhero. The cast also includes Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy and Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors. The film will portray Parker as his super powers are evolving in high school and will explore him trying to discover the truth behind his parents, with a theme of him discovering himself in the process. The film also brings to life new designs of the film franchise such as Parker inventing artificial webs like in the original comics instead of developing organic webs.

The film's development began simultaneously with Sony announcing the cancellation of Spider-Man 4. Opting for a reboot with the same production team rather than another sequel, the studio announced a July 2012 release date for what was now titled The Amazing Spider-Man. James Vanderbilt was hired to write the script while Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves helped fine-tune the script. Pre-production involved the casting of many actors and actresses trying out the role of Spider-Man and Gwen Stacy respectively until Garfield and Stone were the clear choice. Principal photography started in December 2010 in Los Angeles before moving to New York City with the help of Red Digital Cinema Camera Company's RED Epic camera. The film entered post-production in April 2011 with the film being shot in 3D with the help of 3ality Technica and with James Horner being involved with the film score.

Sony Entertainment has focused its marketing campaign with a promotional website with released images, three theatrical trailers, a prologue screening in certain cities, a video game tie-in being developed by Beenox and a viral marketing campaign among other products. The Amazing Spider-Man premiered in June 13, 2012 in Tokyo, Japan and will then be released in the United States on July 3, 2012 in 3D and in IMAX 3D. The critical reaction of the film is generally positive with the consensus that Webb and the cast deliver thrills but that some elements are too similar to 2002's Spider-Man. A sequel to the film is being planned for release in 2014 with James Vanderbilt hired to again write the screenplay and with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci reported to rewrite it.