After a record-breaking Tuesday opening of $35 million--topping 2007's Transformers Tuesday premiere of $27.9--it has been announced that Andrew Garfield's The Amazing Spider-Man movie will launch a trilogy.
While this may not surprise many, the studio had previously been noncommittal as to the number of films they planned to include in the rebooted Marvel franchise. Now, on the official Facebook page, The Amazing Spider-Man is described as "the first installment in a movie trilogy that will explore how our fave hero's journey was shaped by the disappearance of his parents."
Before the film even premiered, a sequel was already planned for release on May 2, 2014. Does the fact that a sequel to an action film is almost always guaranteed, with trilogies and even larger franchises becoming increasingly popular, say something about the film industry and us as movie-goers?
Between 2002 and 2014, there will have been five Spider-Man films with two different leads and at least two different directors, all (presumably) grossing mega-millions. With such sure bets, there's really no reason to stop. But how much can a character be re-used in such a short span? Perhaps the iconic 007 film franchise demonstrates that it's not an issue.
Numerous questions remain, however. Will The Amazing Spider-Man's Gwen Stacy return for the next two films, or will she make way for Mary Jane? Will Marc Webb direct? Who will the villains be? Give us your thoughts below.