“AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2” GROSSES P112.6-M, BIGGEST FIRST 2 DAYS IN HISTORY!

“The Amazing Spider-Man 2” shattered records as it grossed an electrifying P112.6-million from April 30 to May 1, now the biggest all-time first two days' gross in the country's history. This was announced today by Victor R. Cabrera, Managing Director of Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., the film's local distributor.

The sequel, in which Spider-Man faced off against super villains Electro and Green Goblin, surpassed the first two-day box office receipts of previous record-holder “Iron Man 3” (P110.9-M), as well as recent superhero blockbusters, namely “Marvel's The Avengers” (P100.8-M), “Man of Steel” (P92.7-M), “The Amazing Spider-Man” (P85.6-M), “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” (P53.8-M), “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” (P49.3-M) and “The Dark Knight Rises” (P36.6-M).

Box-office earnings for “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” jumpstarted on April 30 with P49.43-M, breaching the highest opening day record for 2014. Figures dramatically rose the next day, May 1 with P63.14-M which also dethroned the crown for biggest Thursday gross ever.

“Amazing 2” has already captured an impressive overseas gross of more than $155 million in just two weeks, and is expected to claim an opening of $100 million in the U.S. this weekend.

In the Philippines, the largest earnings were posted by SM Mall of Asia at P6-M, followed by SM North EDSA, P5.53-M and SM Megamall, P5.54-M.

The Top 4 to 20 cinemas include Trinoma (P4.29-M), Glorietta 4 (P3.18-M), SM Cebu (P2.88-M), Greenhills Promenade (P2.21-M), SM Southmall (P2.18-M), Alabang Town Center (P2.10-M), SM Aura (P2-M), Eastwood (P1.95-M), Power Plant (P1.85-M), Greenbelt 3 (P1.82-M), Newport (P1.78-M), Gateway (P1.77-M), Market! Market! (P1,709,866), SM Clark (P 1,709,476), Ayala Cebu (P1.64-M), Shang Cineplex (P1.63-M) and Robinsons Magnolia (P1.573-M).

Rounding out the Top 30 theaters are SM Marikina (P1,570,875), SM Fairview (P1,570,353), Bonifacio High Street (P1.55-M), Robinsons Ermita (P1.50-M), Robinsons Galleria (P1.49-M), SM San Lazaro (P1.42-M), Festival (P1.38-M), Fisher Mall (P1.32-M), Sta. Lucia East (P1.29-M) and SM Manila (P1.24-M).

In the film, Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) feels there’s nothing quite like swinging between skyscrapers, embracing being the hero, and spending time with Gwen (Emma Stone). But being Spider-Man comes at a price: only Spider-Man can protect his fellow New Yorkers from the formidable villains that threaten the city. With the emergence of Electro (Jamie Foxx), Peter must confront a foe far more powerful than he. And as his old friend, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), returns, Peter comes to realize that all of his enemies have one thing in common: Oscorp.

“The Amazing Spider-Man 2” is directed by Marc Webb and produced by Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach. Screenplay by Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci & Jeff Pinkner. Screen Story by Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci & Jeff Pinkner and James Vanderbilt. Based on the Marvel Comic Book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
Now playing across the Philippines in IMAX 3D, Digital 3D and 2D formats, “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.

Andrew Garfield Creates New Vision for “SPIDER-MAN” Role

Returning to the role of Peter Parker is Andrew Garfield, the BAFTA-winning actor who creates a new vision for the role in Columbia Pictures' “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.”

“It’s hard to be Peter Parker, but it’s great to be Spider-Man,” says Garfield. “As Peter Parker, he has all of the same problems that we all have – girl problems, money problems. But when he puts on the suit, it’s a massive release. He can breathe. Spider-Man always knows the right thing to do – he’s a vessel for good, heroic energy and saving people. He takes joy and pleasure in it, and a playfulness comes out of him.”

Paul Giamatti is the Rhino in “THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2”

As Spider-Man's enemies begin to unite in Columbia Pictures' new action adventure “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” one enemy to join the sinister cause is the Russian gangster Aleksei Sytsevich, played by Oscar-nominated actor Paul Giamatti (“Sideways,” “12 Years a Slave”). Stopped and sent packing by Spider-Man early in the film, he returns as a highly mechanized Oscorp invention – the Rhino.

The Rhino was in fact Paul Giamatti’s favorite Marvel character when he was growing up. “He’s just brute force, and a little kid loves that sort of thing,” the actor says, describing the Rhino’s appeal. “You can just destroy everything, go through a brick wall. The Rhino had that great mean face all the time and was cool-looking.”

An appearance on Conan O’Brien’s late night talk show in 2011 led to Giamatti being cast as the Rhino in “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.” “As a joke, Conan asked me if I could be in one of the Spider-Man movies, what would I want to play, and I said the Rhino,” says Giamatti. “I guess Marc Webb saw it, and when they were coming around to do this one, I met him and he asked, ‘Would you seriously want to play the Rhino?’ It’s such a weird fantasy thing – I feel like I’m seven!”

Bringing the Rhino to the big screen presented a challenge to the special effects team. “We had some creative license in creating a wonderful villain in the Rhino – one that would make people laugh and fear at the same time,” says digital effects supervisor David Alexander Smith. “We looked at old Russian tanks and military equipment. We wanted it to feel substantial and not rickety, but at the same time it’s kind of a hodgepodge. We ended up with something very strong and fun at the same time, playing off of the character that Paul Giamatti established.”

Even though the Rhino costume would be entirely CG (2,295 pieces of CG geometry, including 263 nuts and bolts), Giamatti performed on set in a 12-foot-tall, mobile unit. “It was important for a few reasons to have Paul Giamatti in some sort of physical contraption on the set,” says Visual Effects Supervisor Jerome Chen. “[Director] Marc [Webb] wanted Andrew [Garfield] and Paul to have the correct eyelines to each other – they had to see and act with each other. Also, because this scene is in daylight on Park Avenue, we could have the correct lighting on Paul when we put the CG suit around him. I’m sure that onlookers had no idea what they were looking at, but it looks great in the final film.”

This past fall, Paul Giamatti was seen in several films: John Lee Hancock’s “Saving Mr. Banks,” Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” opposite Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, and Chiwetel Ejiofor; Carlo Carlei’s “Romeo and Juliet,” as Friar Laurence, opposite Hailee Steinfeld and Damian Lewis.

Other credits for him include “Turbo,” “Rock of Ages,” “The Ides of March,” Curtis Hanson’s HBO movie “Too Big To Fail,” in which his performance earned him his third SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries as well as an Emmy® and Golden Globe® nomination.
In 2006, Giamatti’s performance in Ron Howard’s “Cinderella Man” earned him his first SAG Award and a Broadcast Film Critics’ Award for Best Supporting Actor, as well as Academy Award and Golden Globe® nominations in the same category.

For his role in Alexander Payne’s critically-lauded “Sideways,”Giamatti earned several accolades for his performance including Best Actor from the Independent Spirit Awards, New York Film Critics Circle as well as a Golden Globe® and SAG Award nomination.

Opening across the Philippines on April 30 in IMAX 3D, Digital 3D and 2D formats, “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.