SPIDER-MAN:
HOMECOMING.

A CHARACTER ON LOAN

HOW SPIDER-MAN CAME TO THE MCU, AND WHO WAS CHOSEN TO MAKE THE FILM

Sony and Marvel announced an agreement on 9 February 2015. Spider-Man would appear in a Marvel film, which became Captain America: Civil War, and Sony would then release a standalone film produced by Marvel Studios. Sony kept control of the Spider-Man films, including final creative control and final approval of casting, and Amy Pascal and Kevin Feige would produce.

On 23 June 2015 the studios announced Tom Holland, then 19, as Peter Parker and Jon Watts, whose Cop Car had played at Sundance, as director, after a global search that included screen tests. Feige said in the announcement, “we love finding new and exciting voices to bring these characters to life.”

JOHN HUGHES AS A REFERENCE POINT

WHY WATTS WANTED PETER TO BE A KID IN A HIGH SCHOOL

Watts said in April 2017 that he wanted to make a high school movie, and noted that in the earlier Spider-Man films Peter is “only in high school for like ten minutes.” When footage was shown at Comic-Con on 23 July 2016, he called it a “straight up high school movie” about a 15-year-old, and the footage drew comparisons to Freaks and Geeks.

He said on 6 July 2017 that John Hughes’s films were his reference points, though he was not making a film about Hughes in particular, since for his generation the name signals a coming-of-age story. He has also said that sincerity was what Hughes always captured, and that Pretty in Pink was his favourite. On the comedy, he explained how much came from the cast:

“A lot of it is improvised. A lot of it is real.”

Jon Watts, 6 July 2017

A NEW SUPPORTING CAST AND SIX WRITERS

KEATON’S VULTURE, A CAST OF TEENAGERS AND A BIG WRITING TEAM

Robert Downey Jr. was revealed as Tony Stark in April 2016, Zendaya and Marisa Tomei were confirmed in March 2016, and Michael Keaton entered talks in April 2016, left, then returned and closed his deal in late May. The Comic-Con footage on 23 July 2016 ended with a shot of the Vulture. Watts said that he wanted a grounded villain and that “no one wakes up thinking they’re going to be a villain.”

The film has six credited writers: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Watts, Christopher Ford, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. The screenplay is credited to three pairs, with the story credited to Goldstein and Daley. McKenna and Sommers were reported in August 2017 to be in talks to return for the sequel alongside Watts.

ATLANTA, NEW YORK AND AN OLD CARTOON THEME

HOW THE FILM WAS SHOT, AND WHY THE MARVEL LOGO SOUNDS DIFFERENT

Filming began on 20 June 2016 at Pinewood Atlanta Studios and wrapped on 2 October 2016 in New York City, and Stan Lee appears as Gary, a neighbour who witnesses a confrontation with Peter.

Michael Giacchino scored the film, and he replaced his own Marvel logo fanfare with a 38-second arrangement of the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon theme, played by a 90-piece orchestra. Sony Masterworks released the score on 7 July 2017.

THE REWATCH

A $117 MILLION OPENING, A 92% CRITICS SCORE AND FIVE GUIDES

It opened to $117,027,503 in the US and Canada and went on to earn about $884 million worldwide against a $175 million budget. Rotten Tomatoes lists a 92% critics’ score from 396 reviews and an 87% audience score, and its consensus says the film “does whatever a second reboot can, delivering a colorful, fun adventure.” Metacritic gives it 73 from 51 critics.

In the Marvel Marathon it sits in the MCU release order, MCU movies in order and Marvel movies in release order guides between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Thor: Ragnarok. In the Spider-Man movies in order guide it follows Captain America: Civil War and comes before Avengers: Infinity War, and in the MCU timeline guide it follows Black Panther and comes before The Punisher Season 1.