The Amazing Spider-Man

CHICAGO – Gritty realism proves to be a perfect fit for some superhero franchises, but “Spider-Man” isn’t one of them. The more grounded and practical the world of Peter Parker becomes, the sillier the whole thing gets. Sam Raimi’s trilogy flourished precisely because it resembled a cheerfully vibrant comic book come to life. In contrast, “The Amazing Spider-Man” is a bore.

CHICAGO – “The Dark Knight Rises” held the top spot at the domestic box office for the third straight week, fending off newcomers “Total Recall” and “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days” with relative ease. Neither newcomer made much of a dent at all but “TDKR” should fall next week to “The Bourne Legacy.”

CHICAGO – Critically reviled “The Watch” with Ben Stiller & Vince Vaughn opened with downright depressing numbers, good enough for only third place. Meanwhile, “Step Up: Revolution” claimed fourth while “The Dark Knight Rises” tumbled over 60% in its second frame.

CHICAGO – “The Dark Knight Rises,” the final film in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy with Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, and Joseph Gordon-Leviitt, opened with a stunning $160.9 million. While the opening was huge, it seems clear that the horrific shooting in Colorado last week did keep some viewers away as most journalists were predicting an opening closer to $200 million.

CHICAGO – Fox’s “Ice Age: Continental Drift” under-performed domestically but still opened strongly enough to take first place at the box office and is riding a huge wave of box office overseas. Meanwhile, “The Amazing Spider-man” fell a reasonable percentage and held on to 2nd place, just ahead of juggernaut “Ted.”

CHICAGO – Whether or not it’s a hit depends on who you ask but Sony’s “The Amazing Spider-man” easily dominated the box office with $65 million over the three-day weekend and $140 million since it opened on July 3, 2012. Big numbers for sure but “Transformers” made $155.4 million in 2007 dollars over its first six days at the same time of year. They’d never admit it, but Sony is probably disappointed that they couldn’t crack $175 million.

CHICAGO – They could have called it “The Meh Spider-man.” While Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Denis Leary, Sally Field, and Martin Sheen do their absolute best to elevate one of the most generic and uninspired superhero screenplays since men first put on spandex in front of the camera, they can’t save this wasted opportunity to reboot a franchise in a way that doesn’t feel generated by a committee of Marvel producers.

CHICAGO – Spidey is back! In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 25 admit-two 3D IMAX movie passes up for grabs to the advance screening of the massively anticipated new Spidey film “The Amazing Spider-Man” starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone!

CHICAGO – Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man,” “Spider-Man 2,” and “Spider-Man 3” were just released on Blu-ray to coincide with the upcoming theatrical release of Mark Webb’s reboot, “The Amazing Spider-Man,” opening in theaters on July 3, 2012. All of the Sony BD releases are pretty standard although purists will like the consistent packaging and the chance to own them at a low price point (close to $10 at some outlets) before they’re probably repackaged again when “Amazing” hits Blu-ray in time for the holidays. None of the releases include any notable new special features (other than the inclusion of Ultraviolet and some games on the first film) but they all included a wealth of them in previous editions.

CHICAGO – In our latest blockbuster trilogy edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: DVD, we have 10 trilogy DVDs up for grabs for the “Spider-Man” trilogy in support of “The Amazing Spider-Man” “Secrets Unmasked” truck tour!