With early tracking for The Amazing Spider-Man suggesting that Hollywood’s latest superhero flick will open to over $125 million in its first week, we now turn to the studio’s budget for the feature to see just how much money Sony splurged in order to reboot the previously successful franchise. The total came in at around $220 million give or take $5 million. This is far from bad for a movie of this scale, but it is definitely going to turn out to be the least profitable superhero flick of the summer as that pegs the cost at around the same level as The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises with in all likelihood a smaller box office gross.
Let’s get real though and really look at what is happening here. The studio is accomplishing two things with The Amazing Spider-Man. First, they are certain to make a sizable profit and essentially manufacture a blockbuster when it seemed like one was unobtainable after ditching the tandem of Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire. Second, Sony is keeping its major superhero property from icing over. These types of franchises do not exactly grow on trees, so to keep Spider-Man alive even if they have to squeeze one out is a very good thing for them. One of the reasons the studio went this route was because Spider-Man 4 was taking too long to develop and not simply so they could capitalize on 3D ticket sales.
Ultimately though, $220 million is still nothing to scoff at as the original Spider-Man in 2002 only cost $100 million to make. It may be easy to criticize for the inflation over time, but the budget for The Amazing Spider-Man is actually well under that of its direct predecessor Spider-Man 3 which reportedly cost a staggering $258 million just five years ago; however, that particular movie grossed $891 million worldwide which somewhat serves as validation. Whether the same scenario plays out with this time around, we will soon find out as the movie opens in theaters next Tuesday.