While Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man had comic book connoisseurs hooked like moths to a flame, the Andrew Garfield-led films seemed to do anything BUT that. The most that The Amazing Spider-Man series did was, much to Sony’s chagrin, let Spidey fans down.
Of course, the film’s dismal reception more or less meant that Garfield too, be painted as a perpetrator behind its failure. But if there’s one thing we know for certain, it’s that he was perhaps the only redeeming quality of those superhero flicks.
The Lamentable Fate of The Amazing Spider-Man
Despite the spell-binding success of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, creative clashes between the director and Sony Pictures hindered them from spawning a fourth film starring Tobey Maguire.
Before you knew it, Sony overhauled the franchise altogether, rebooting it with The Amazing Spider-Man and Andrew Garfield as the new web-slinger. But little did the studio know, it would end up digging its own financial grave thanks to that decision.
Sure, the Marc Webb-helmed venture did come close to amassing a box office collection akin to its predecessor. But $758 million didn’t stop Garfield’s origin story as Peter Parker from being the lowest-grossing Spider-Man outing at the time (via Box Office Mojo).
After releasing a 2014 sequel – which arguably faced a much worse fate – the studio was in the plans for yet another installment but The Amazing Spider-Man universe was scrapped following the controversy regarding Sony’s leaked emails.
Thankfully enough, however, Sony’s attempt at yet another revamp succeeded with Tom Holland as your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. But even the smashing victory of Spider-Man: Homecoming isn’t enough to keep a lid over fans’ fury when it comes to Garfield’s morbid run as Spidey.
Fans Are Piqued at Andrew Garfield’s Wasted Potential
Given the We Live in Time star’s unbridled love for the character and his diligent efforts at perfecting the role, it’s truly upsetting to see how his time as Spider-Man was cut short. Especially with no fault of his own.
“Sony, this is what you call wasted potential,” one fan wrote under an Instagram post exploring a behind-the-scenes segment from The Amazing Spider-Man. “Sony f**king wasted Andrew’s Spider-Man with such bad writings,” another user commented.
Not only has the 40-year-old Oscar nominee been a childhood admirer of the superhero, but many of the dangerous stunts you’ve seen on- screen were performed by Garfield himself. Yup, that was him hanging off of skyscrapers (mostly). That’s how dedicated he was to the character (via WIRED).
I love it [doing the stunts]. Especially with the Spider-Man stuff, I loved it. It was probably my favorite part of that cause I used to be a gymnast when I was a kid…and it was, like, part of what made me love the character so much. And, yeah, it’s so fun.
From the tangled writing to the seemingly shabby execution, a lot of things went wrong with The Amazing Spider-Man films, but Garfield certainly wasn’t one of them.
The Amazing Spider-Man films can be streamed on Disney+.
