'Spider-Man 2' wows at all-important Comic-Con

Posted Monday, July 21, 2003 at 9:13 AM Central

by Tim Briscoe

There's no more important demographic in Hollywood these days than that of comic book geek. That small group with a very influential voice can make or break a big-budget movie.

Spider-Man, X-Men, et al wouldn't be the successes they have been without the endorsement of comic book aficionados. Even movies like non-comic book movies The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings must pass the muster of this audience.

And the movie studios know it. That's why this past weekend's Comic-Con convention in San Diego was a big deal for Hollywood. Of the 65,000 attendees to the event, 5,000 were studio-types playing double duty. They were looking for the next big comic to adapt to the silver screen while at the same time looking for an endorsement for current projects.

The biggest of which was Sony Pictures. They were there in full force to show off footage from next July's Spider-Man 2. The brief clips shown at Comic-Con are going to be the most important test screening the film will get.

Much like Willem Dafoe's origin scenes as he transformed into the demented Green Goblin, Alfred Molina was shown in his beginnings as Doctor Octopus. In the scene, scientists worked to attach metal tentacles to his spine until the evil Doc Ock struck back and threw them against the laboratory walls with his expandable 13-foot appendages.

The footage certainly wowed the group in Southern California. From the postings of attendees on several Internet message boards, all seemed to like this villain's big screen appearance over the overly metallic Green Goblin from Sam Raimi's original movie. (Although one fan thought Doc Ock's metal arms looked like the robot sentinels from The Matrix.)

Sony timed the Doc Ock debut with its new teaser web site for the sequel. The site contains a look inside the storyline and exclusive wallpaper of the fishy physician.