Sam Raimi on Why ‘Spider-Man 4’ Fell Apart: ‘I Didn’t Want to Just Make Another One That Pretty Much Worked’

Sam Raimi would be open to directing a new Spider-Man movie, but only if he could get the old gang back together.

There’s no denying it. “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” is a bonafide hit with fans and at the box office – as if anyone had any doubt in the Marvel machine continuing to rake in money.

After crossing the $200M domestic mark on Monday, Disney/Marvel’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness on Tuesday zoomed past $500M global. It is also nearing $300M at the international box office, certain to reach that milestone today.

(Warning: This post features spoilers for “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”Fresh off a massive opening weekend box office, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” is proving to be one of the more divisive Marvel movies in recent memory. Fans seem to be split over the decision to peg Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff as the antagonist in the sequel – a fact that was obscured in the marketing, but one many expected given the character’s transformation into the Scarlet Witch in the comics.But the shift from hero to antagonist proved difficult for some fans to swallow coming off the character’s deeply empathetic portrayal in “WandaVision,” which explored how her grief over Vision’s death manifested in holding an entire town hostage.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment WriterSPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot points in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” currently playing in theaters.

Marvel Cinematic Universe following Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness.In the film, Wanda Maximoff aka the Scarlet Witch appears to sacrifice herself to destroy the Darkhold throughout the multiverse, burying herself in the ruins of Mount Wundagore with the evil text.Olsen, who plays Wanda, has since teased however this won’t be the end of the character.“I sign extensions every time they want me to do a movie,” Olsen told Collider. “I just a signed a very short one at the beginning, so everything’s constantly just, it’s always adjusting for me.

Carson Burton It has been 20 years since Sam Raimi‘s “Spider-Man” changed Hollywood forever, proving that the superhero movie genre offers the opportunity for massive box-office success while also garnering critical appreciation.“The world that they’ve created since ‘Spider-Man,’ which is the last time we have worked on a Marvel film together, look what’s happened! It’s exploded! It’s become this insane universe,” composer Danny Elfman told Variety at Monday night’s premiere for “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” in Los Angeles.“Sam stepped right into this universe with Dr Strange and took it so to the next level,” Elfman continued. “Yet, he brought his own sensibility.

Before director Sam Raimi (“Evil Dead“) was famous for making his “Spider-Man” trilogy as part of the wave of films that helped launch live-action Marvel Comics movies into popular culture alongside 1998’s “Blade” and 2000’s “X-Men,” he decided to make his own original mature superhero film. Raimi made “Darkman” after he couldn’t secure the film rights to “The Shadow,” a dark superhero created for radio in the 1930s who was voiced by the legendary Orson Wells (“Citizen Kane“).

It’s the first week of May, and you know what that means, right? The Marvel Studios machine has pumped out another feature and is ready to take over the world yet again. This time, we get “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” and boy, oh boy, The Playlist Podcast has some thoughts.

Refresh for latest…: Disney/Marvel’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness began offshore release on Wednesday in 20 markets and is already doing some crazy numbers. With $27.2M through yesterday, the first-day overall results are only 4% below Spider-Man: No Way Home and a staggering 153% ahead of the original 2016 Doctor Strange, as well as 210% ahead of The Batman on a like-for-like basis at today’s rates.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” is predicted to be a big Phase Four entry with many special guest stars. The first “Doctor Strange” film came out in 2016, which means a lot (truly, a lot) has happened in the period between movies, including an introduction to the Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther and even Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. Ant-Man, Captain Marvel, Shang Chi and the Eternals also entered the picture.The “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame” films complicated things a bit for the MCU, as did Marvel’s very first television series “WandaVision,” whose powerful Wanda Maximoff will return to help Doctor Strange learn more about the multiverse.

NEW YORK -- Relief was just starting to wash over director Sam Raimi the morning after the premiere of “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”The film, which opens in theaters Friday, has been a headlong sprint for the 62-year-old, who took over two and a half years ago after Scott Derrickson departed the project over creative differences. Raimi had a script to retool but an unmovable shooting timeline to meet.“Every part of this moviemaking process has been great, but every part of the process went on too long and became a little too intense,” explained Raimi, speaking by Zoom from Los Angeles.

While many are excited to see director Sam Raimi (“Spider-Man“) return to the superhero genre with “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness” releasing this week, the film also allows him to play in the realm of horror. It’s been more than a decade since Raimi has really tapped into horror filmmaking in a serious way.

With an incredibly eclectic lineup this month, May certainly isn’t slowing down in premiering intriguing and must-see pictures. Even the tentpole Marvel film directed by Sam Raimi looks to possess more thrills than the standard Marvel lineup.

brought together all three live-action Peter Parker’s, Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire, fans reminisced about each franchise’s most memorable moments from across the multiverse. For Marvel’s original webslinger, it was a full-circle moment after kicking off the character’s cinematic journey nearly 20 years before in Sam Raimi’s .As Peter 2 (Maguire) explains to Peter 1 (Holland) and Peter 3 (Garfield), he and Mary-Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) have “made it work” in the years since their relationship status was left up in the air following 2007's.

**Editor’s note: To properly review “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness,” you have to tread into the basic plot, and the basic plot has been kept secret from audiences and withheld from the trailers. Thus, this review will have to get into *some* basic spoilers, so if you want to be totally spoiler-free, we encourage you to read this review after you’ve seen the film.

When you bring Sam Raimi into the Marvel Cinematic Universe you can bet you are going to get something different, and that is definitely the case with his pretty scary take on the latest MCU entry, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness. Though Raimi is well versed in the Marvel comic book world having directed the first Spider-Man trilogy he is just as well known for many other genres, certainly for his horror filmography including The Evil Dead and Drag Me To Hell among a lot more, and here he successfully and entertainingly gets to mix that kind of dark terrifying storytelling with beloved established characters in the MCU.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” has officially concluded its world premiere and the first reactions for the new entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are pouring in online, with film journalists calling the long-awaited sequel everything from a film that “fully goes horror” to “a mixed bag.” One thing almost everyone seems to agree on is that it’s nice to see Sam Raimi back in the director’s chair.Benedict Cumberbatch reprises the title role in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” which is helmed by Raimi. The film picks up after the events of “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” in which Stephen Strange changed the face of reality by opening up the multiverse.

If you remember, back in the day, filmmaker Sam Raimi was all set to make “Spider-Man 4,” then slated for a May 6, 2011 release. Tobey Maguire and Kristen Dunst would star again, and at least two new characters/actors would join the franchise: Anne Hathaway as the Black Cat/Felicia Hardy, John Malkovich as Vulture/Adrian Toomes.

Spider-Man trilogy has spoken about the possibility of a fourth film starring Tobey Maguire as the titular webslinger.Following Maguire’s introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with his appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home, there’s been a renewed interest from fans in continuing the story of Maguire’s version of Spider-Man.Speaking about his interest in revisiting the character, Sam Raimi (who directed 2002’s Spider-Man and the following two sequels) told Rolling Stone he’d be up for it “if there was a great story there.”“My love for the characters hasn’t diminished one iota,” he continued. “It would be the same things that would stop me now that stopped me then: ‘Does Tobey want to do it? Is there an emotional arc for him? Is there a great conflict for this character? And is there a worthy villain that fits into the theme of the piece?’ There’s a lot of questions that would have to be answered.