CULVER CITY, Calif., Dec. 11, 2003 -- With early excitement building towards its July 2, 2004 release, Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel Studios announced today that the first theatrical teaser trailer for Spider-Man® 2 will premiere online, exclusively at Yahoo!, streaming to fans around the world beginning on December 15 at 12:01am EST.
Fans everywhere who visit the Yahoo! front page will be able to click on the Spider-Man banner and experience a top-quality stream of the film's teaser trailer.
The trailer is set for prominent placement globally on the front pages of international Yahoo! properties in 13 countries including United States of America, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Local times are as follows:
Yahoo! Mexico mx.yahoo.com 11:01pm December 14
Yahoo! USA yahoo.com 12:01am EST December 15
Yahoo! Canada ca.yahoo.com 12:01am December 15
Yahoo! Brazil br.yahoo.com 3:01am December 15
Yahoo! UK & Ireland uk.yahoo.com 5:01am December 15
Yahoo! France fr.yahoo.com 6:01am December 15
Yahoo! Spain es.yahoo.com 6:01am December 15
Yahoo! Italy it.yahoo.com 6:01am December 15
Yahoo! Germany de.yahoo.com 6:01am December 15
Yahoo! Japan yahoo.co.jp 2:01pm December 15
Yahoo! Australia & NZ yahoo.com.au 3:31pm December 15
"This will be the first wave of our global launch for one of the most anticipated films of 2004," said Geoffrey Ammer, President, Worldwide Marketing for the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group. "The worldwide demand for images and materials from Spider-Man 2 is nearly insatiable and, given that such a large segment of the opening weekend audience for the first film was influenced by our interactive campaign, what better way to reward that loyalty than by sharing these exclusive images with fans around the world on the Internet. Thanks to our solid relationship with the people at Yahoo!, we are taking full advantage of our capability to host this global premiere for the enjoyment of our fans worldwide."
"We are pleased to leverage the global reach of Yahoo! For the worldwide phenomenon of Spider-Man®," said Jim Moloshok, Yahoo! Senior Vice President, Media, Entertainment, Information & Finance. "Yahoo's audience around the world is made up of the same entertainment consumers who stand in line for a movie on opening weekend, and the Yahoo! network is the ideal place to give the fans their first peek at Spider-Man's newest adventures."
Following its online premiere, the new trailer will segue into U.S. theaters on Wednesday, December 17, where the studio is targeting such films as The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
On May 3, 2002, Spider-Man made box office history with a record- shattering opening weekend of $114 million. The film went on to earn more than $820 million worldwide and ranks as the fifth highest grossing film in U.S. history.
Based on exit polls that Sony conducted during the opening weekend of Spider-Man, an estimated 47 percent of patrons cited the Internet as an important source of information for the movie.
In Spider-Man® 2, the latest installment in the blockbuster Spider-Man® series, based on the classic Marvel Super Hero®, Tobey Maguire returns as the mild-mannered Peter Parker, who is juggling the delicate balance of his dual life as a college student and a superhuman crime fighter.
The entertaining adventure escalates and Spider-Man's life becomes even more complicated when he confronts a new nemesis, the brilliant Otto Octavius, (Alfred Molina) who has been reincarnated as the maniacal and multi-tentacled "Doc Ock."
In addition to Maguire and Molina, Spider-Man 2 also stars Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Rosemary Harris, Donna Murphy and J.K. Simmons. Spider-Man 2 is directed by Sam Raimi and based on the Marvel Comic book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
For more information on Spider-Man® 2, please visit www.sony.com/spider-man.
About Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures, part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, is a Sony Pictures Entertainment company. Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America (SCA), a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution; television production and distribution; digital content creation and distribution; worldwide channel investments; home entertainment acquisition and distribution; operation of studio facilities; development of new entertainment products, services and technologies; and distribution of filmed entertainment in 67 countries. Sony Pictures Entertainment can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.spe.sony.com.
About Marvel Enterprises, Inc.
With a library of over 4,7000 proprietary characters, Marvel Enterprises, Inc. is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies. Marvel's operations are focused in five divisions: entertainment (Marvel Studios), licensing, toys (Toy Biz), comic book publishing and Internet/New Media. Marvel facilitates the creation of entertainment projects, including feature films, television, home video and the Internet, based on its characters and also licenses its characters for use in a wide range of consumer products and services including video and computer games, apparel, collectibles, snack foods and promotions. Marvel's characters and plot lines are created by its comic book division which continues to maintain a leadership position in the U.S. and worldwide while also serving as an invaluable source of intellectual property. For additional information visit the Marvel Web site at http://www.marvel.com.
