1.
Sam Raimi
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His most recent work is the 2013 Disney fantasy film Oz the Great and Powerful. Raimi has also produced several television series and founded his own production company, Renaissance Pictures. Recently, he worked as the producer of The Possession, Raimi was born in Royal Oak, Michigan. He is the fourth of five born to Celia Barbara and Leonard Ronald Raimi. He was raised in Conservative Judaism, his ancestors emigrated from Russia, Raimi graduated from Groves High School and later went on to attend Michigan State University, where he majored in English but left after three semesters to film The Evil Dead. Raimi became fascinated with making films when his father brought a movie camera home one day and he began to make Super 8 movies with childhood friend Bruce Campbell. In college, he teamed up with his brothers roommate Robert Tapert and Campbell to shoot Within the Woods and he began work on his third film Crimewave, intended as a live-action comic book—the film was not successful, due in part to unwanted studio intervention. Raimi then returned to the genre with the seminal Evil Dead II. With his brother Ivan Raimi, Sam Raimi also wrote Easy Wheels, a long-time comic book buff, he then attempted to adapt The Shadow into a movie, but was unable to secure the rights, so he created his own super-hero, Darkman. Army of Darkness, the movie in the Evil Dead trilogy, was a box office flop. Raimi achieved great critical and commercial success with the blockbuster Spider-Man, the movie has grossed over US$800 million worldwide, spawning two sequels, Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3, both directed by Raimi and both grossing roughly $800 million each. After the completion of the third Spider-Man film, he planned on producing two more sequels but could not find a satisfactory script, Raimi frequently collaborates with Joel and Ethan Coen, beginning when Joel was one of the editors of Evil Dead. The Coens co-wrote Crimewave and The Hudsucker Proxy with Raimi in the mid-1980s, Raimi made cameo appearances in Millers Crossing, The Hudsucker Proxy, and with Joel Coen in Spies Like Us. The Coen brothers gave Raimi advice on shooting in snow for A Simple Plan, the film was written by his childhood friend writer-director Mike Binder and shot at the camp that they both attended when they were younger. Raimi also produced the entire The Grudge franchise, according to Entertainment Weekly, Raimi had expressed an interest in directing a film version of The Hobbit, the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In 2008, Guillermo del Toro was selected as the director, Raimi may direct By Any Means Necessary, the next film based on the Jack Ryan CIA character created by Tom Clancy for Paramount Pictures. Disney also approached him to direct W. I. T. C. H, the Movie, based on the popular comic. Blizzard Entertainment announced on July 22,2009 that Sam Raimi will be directing a Warcraft film, however at Comic-Con International 2012, it was revealed that he would not be the one directing the World of Warcraft adaptation
2.
Laura Ziskin
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Ziskin was born and raised in a Jewish family in the San Fernando Valley, California, the daughter of Jay Ziskin and Elaine Edelman. Jay was a psychologist and lawyer who died of cancer, aged 77. After graduating from the University of Southern California USC School of Cinematic Arts in 1973, Ziskin started out writing for game shows, then became the personal assistant of Jon Peters. Ziskin quickly became a development executive, moving into feature films with Jon Peters production company where she worked on the 1976 remake of A Star Is Born, Ziskin formed Fogwood Films with partner Sally Field in 1984, and produced Murphys Romance. As an independent producer, Ziskin produced the thriller No Way Out for Orion Pictures, in 1988, Ziskin and partner Ian Sander produced two films featuring Dennis Quaid, the remake of D. O. A. and Taylor Hackfords Everybodys All-American. Ziskins success came with the hit comedy Pretty Woman in 1990, starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, the following year was difficult for Ziskin. Ziskin and star Bill Murray had spirited disagreements during production, both that film and The Doctor were not as strong at the box office as Pretty Woman. A switch to Columbia resulted in Stephen Frears Hero in 1992, Ziskin directed her first short film in 1994, Oh, What a Day. 1914 and produced the Nicole Kidman tour-de-force To Die For in 1995, by the time that last film was in release, Ziskin had been appointed president of Fox 2000, one of several offshoots 20th Century Fox developed to speed up their production and distribution. Since the formation of Fox 2000, Ziskin rounded up a number of directors and writers. Among those released were Edward Zwicks Gulf War drama Courage Under Fire and the romantic comedy One Fine Day and Pat OConnors Inventing the Abbotts, Ziskin executive produced As Good as It Gets in 1997. After nearly five years on the job, Ziskin resigned from Fox 2000 in November 1999, after being tapped to serve as the first solo female producer of an Academy Awards telecast in 2002, Ziskin returned to the big screen with the highly anticipated feature version of Spider-Man. The film was released on May 3,2002 to widespread acclaim from critics, went on to box office records. The success of the led to two sequels, Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3. In 2002, Ziskin was also awarded the Crystal Award by Women in Film for her efforts at expanding the role of women in the entertainment industry. In February 2004, Ziskin was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer, Ziskin died of breast cancer at her home in Santa Monica, California on June 12,2011, aged 61. Her final films were the franchise reboot, The Amazing Spider-Man and she died a few months after filming ended on The Amazing Spider-Man, but three weeks before filming began on The Butler. When she was about 27, Ziskin married writer Julian Barry, the two later had a daughter, Julia Barry
3.
Avi Arad
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Avi Arad is an Israeli-American businessman. Arad was born in Israel, to Holocaust survivors from Poland and he spent his childhood in Israel, and grew up on Superman and Spider-Man comics translated into Hebrew. In 1965, he was conscripted into the Israel Defense Forces and he fought in and was wounded in the 1967 Six-Day War, and spent 15 days recuperating. Arad finished his service in 1968. In 1970, Arad moved to the United States and enrolled at Hofstra University to study industrial management and he worked as a truck driver and Hebrew teacher to put himself through college, and graduated with a BBA in 1972. Along with Israeli-American Toy Biz co-owner Isaac Perlmutter, Avi Arad came into conflict with Carl Icahn and he was involved in Marvels emergence from bankruptcy and the expansion of the companys profile through licensing and movies. On May 31,2006, Arad resigned his various Marvel positions, including his leadership of Marvel Studios to form his own production company, although he is still producing projects for Marvel, his first feature outside Marvel was the August 2007 film Bratz, The Movie. On August 25,2010, it was announced that Arad was given a chair with the American branch of animation studio Production I. G in Los Angeles, California
4.
Spider-Man
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Spider-Man is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko, when Spider-Man first appeared in the early 1960s, teenagers in superhero comic books were usually relegated to the role of sidekick to the protagonist. Marvel has featured Spider-Man in several book series, the first. In the 2010s, he joins the Avengers, Marvels flagship superhero team, Spider-Mans nemesis Doctor Octopus also took on the identity for a story arc spanning 2012–2014, following a body swap plot in which Peter appears to die. Spider-Man is one of the most popular and commercially successful superheroes, the character was first portrayed in live action by Nicholas Hammond in the 1977 television movie Spider-Man. Reeve Carney starred as Spider-Man in the 2010 Broadway musical Spider-Man, in 1962, with the success of the Fantastic Four, Marvel Comics editor and head writer Stan Lee was casting about for a new superhero idea. He said the idea for Spider-Man arose from a surge in demand for comic books. At that time Lee had to get only the consent of Marvel publisher Martin Goodman for the characters approval, in a 1986 interview, Lee described in detail his arguments to overcome Goodmans objections. In particular, Lee stated that the fact that it had already decided that Amazing Fantasy would be cancelled after issue #15 was the only reason Goodman allowed him to use Spider-Man. While this was indeed the issue, its editorial page anticipated the comic continuing. Will appear every month in Amazing, regardless, Lee received Goodmans approval for the name Spider-Man and the ordinary teen concept, and approached artist Jack Kirby. Lee and Kirby immediately sat down for a conference, Theakston writes. Steve Ditko would be the inker, when Kirby showed Lee the first six pages, Lee recalled, I hated the way he was doing it. Not that he did it badly—it just wasnt the character I wanted, Lee turned to Ditko, who developed a visual style Lee found satisfactory. Ditko recalled, One of the first things I did was to work up a costume, a vital, visual part of the character. I had to know how he looked, for example, A clinging power so he wouldnt have hard shoes or boots, a hidden wrist-shooter versus a web gun and holster, etc. I wasnt sure Stan would like the idea of covering the characters face and it would also add mystery to the character. Although the interior artwork was by Ditko alone, Lee rejected Ditkos cover art, as Lee explained in 2010, I think I had Jack sketch out a cover for it because I always had a lot of confidence in Jacks covers
5.
Stan Lee
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Stan Lee is an American comic-book writer, editor, publisher, media producer, television host, actor, and former president and chairman of Marvel Comics. In addition, he challenged the comics industrys censorship organization, the Comics Code Authority, Lee subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation. He was inducted into the book industrys Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994. Lee received a National Medal of Arts in 2008 and his father, trained as a dress cutter, worked only sporadically after the Great Depression, and the family moved further uptown to Fort Washington Avenue, in Washington Heights, Manhattan. When Lee was nearly 9, his sibling, brother Larry Lieber, was born. He said in 2006 that as a child he was influenced by books and movies, by the time Lee was in his teens, the family was living in a one-bedroom apartment at 1720 University Avenue in The Bronx. Lee has described it as an apartment facing out back, with he and his brother sharing a bedroom. Lee attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, in his youth, Lee enjoyed writing, and entertained dreams of one day writing the Great American Novel. He graduated from school early, aged 16½ in 1939. With the help of his uncle Robbie Solomon, Lee became an assistant in 1939 at the new Timely Comics division of pulp magazine, Timely, by the 1960s, would evolve into Marvel Comics. Lee, whose cousin Jean was Goodmans wife, was hired by Timely editor Joe Simon. His duties were prosaic at first, in those days dipped the pen in ink, I had to make sure the inkwells were filled, Lee recalled in 2009. I went down and got them their lunch, I did proofreading, Lee later explained in his autobiography and numerous other sources that he had intended to save his given name for more literary work. This initial story also introduced Captain Americas trademark ricocheting shield-toss, which became one of the characters signatures. He graduated from writing filler to actual comics with a feature, Headline Hunter, Foreign Correspondent. Lees first superhero co-creation was the Destroyer, in Mystic Comics #6, other characters he created during this period fans and historians call the Golden Age of comics include Jack Frost, debuting in USA Comics #1, and Father Time, debuting in Captain America Comics #6. When Simon and his creative partner Jack Kirby left late in 1941, following a dispute with Goodman, Lee entered the United States Army in early 1942 and served in the US in the Signal Corps, repairing telegraph poles and other communications equipment. He was later transferred to the Training Film Division, where he worked writing manuals, training films, and slogans and his military classification, he says, was playwright, he adds that only nine men in the US Army were given that title
6.
Steve Ditko
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Stephen J. Steve Ditko is an American comic book artist and writer best known as the artist and co-creator, with Stan Lee, of the Marvel Comics superheroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. Ditko studied under Batman artist Jerry Robinson at the Cartoonist and Illustrators School in New York City and he began his professional career in 1953, working in the studio of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, beginning as an inker and coming under the influence of artist Mort Meskin. During this time, he began his long association with Charlton Comics, where he did work in the genres of science fiction, horror. He also co-created the superhero Captain Atom in 1960, during the 1950s, Ditko also drew for Atlas Comics, a forerunner of Marvel Comics. He went on to contribute much significant work to Marvel, in 1966, after being the exclusive artist on The Amazing Spider-Man and the Doctor Strange feature in Strange Tales, Ditko left Marvel for reasons never specified. Ditko also began contributing to small independent publishers, where he created Mr. A, since the 1960s, Ditko has declined most interviews, stating that it is his work he offers readers, not his personality. Ditko was inducted into the comics industrys Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1990, the second-eldest child in a working-class family, he was preceded by sister Anna Marie, and followed, according to the 1940 census, by sister Elizabeth and brother Patrick. Good with his hands, Ditko in junior school was part of a group of students who crafted wooden models of German airplanes to aid civilian World War II aircraft-spotters. Upon graduating from Johnstown High School in 1945, he enlisted in the U. S. Army on October 26,1945, and did service in postwar Germany. Following his discharge, Ditko learned that his idol, Batman artist Jerry Robinson, was teaching at the Cartoonists, moving there in 1950, he enrolled in the art school under the G. I. He was in my class for two years, four or five days a week, five hours a night, Ditkos first published work was his second professional story, the six-page Paper Romance in Daring Love #1, published by the Key imprint Gillmor Magazines. Beginning as an inker on backgrounds, Ditko was soon working with and learning from Mort Meskin, Meskin was fabulous, Ditko once recalled. I couldnt believe the ease with which he drew, strong compositions, loose pencils, yet complete, Ditkos known assistant work includes aiding inker Meskin on the Jack Kirby pencil work of Harvey Comics Captain 3-D #1. For his own published story, Ditko penciled and inked the six-page A Hole in His Head in Black Magic vol. 4, #3, published by Simon & Kirbys Crestwood Publications imprint Prize Comics, Ditko then began a long association with the Derby, Connecticut publisher Charlton Comics, a low-budget division of a company best known for song-lyric magazines. He first went on hiatus from the company, and comics altogether, in mid-1954, hed take those skeleton outlines I had given him and turn them into classic little works of art that ended up being far cooler than I had any right to expect. Kirby told Lee about his own 1950s character conception, variously called the Silver Spider and Spiderman, Comics historian Greg Theakston says Lee and Kirby immediately sat down for a story conference and Lee afterward directed Kirby to flesh out the character and draw some pages. A day or two later, Kirby showed Lee the first six pages, and, as Lee recalled, not that he did it badly — it just wasnt the character I wanted, it was too heroic
7.
Tobey Maguire
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Tobias Vincent Tobey Maguire is an American actor and producer. He began his career in the late 1980s and his first appearance in a feature film was a non-speaking part in The Wizard. He was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe Awards, in 2012 he established his own production company, Material Pictures, and co-produced Good People that same year. In 2014 he produced and starred as Bobby Fischer in Pawn Sacrifice, Maguire was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Wendy, a secretary turned screenwriter and film producer, and Vincent Maguire, a construction worker and cook. He is of part Austrian and part Puerto Rican descent and his parents,18 and 20 years old, were unmarried at the time of his birth, the two married and subsequently divorced when Maguire was two. Maguire spent much of his moving from town to town, living with each parent. During his childhood, Maguire entertained the idea of becoming a chef and his mother offered him $100 to take a drama class instead, and he agreed. The transient nature of his school years began to take a toll on Maguire emotionally, instead, he pursued an acting career. By 2000, he had obtained his GED, noting that during his days, I was not doing school, I was showing up. Maguires first appearance in a film was in 1989s The Wizard. He plays one of Lucas Bartons goons and had no lines and he worked as a child actor in the early 1990s, often playing roles much younger than his chronological age, and as late as 2002 he was still playing teenagers while in his mid-20s. He appeared in a variety of commercials and TV and movie roles, working opposite such actors as Chuck Norris, Roseanne Barr, eventually, he was cast as the lead in the FOX TV series Great Scott. Which was cancelled five weeks later, during many of his auditions, Maguire found himself auditioning for roles opposite another rising actor, Leonardo DiCaprio. The pair quickly became friends and made a pact to help each other get parts in their movies/TV shows/other projects. For example, both auditioned for the part in the 1990 TV series based on the 1989 comedy Parenthood. DiCaprio was cast, and Maguire later got a guest role at least partly on DiCaprios recommendation, the same scenario played itself out during casting for the 1993 movie This Boys Life, DiCaprio got the main teen role and Maguire got a part as one of Tobys friends. By the mid-1990s, He was working steadily but was becoming involved in the hard-partying lifestyle of some of his fellow young actors. In 1995, he requested director Allan Moyle to release him from his part in the movie Empire Records, Moyle agreed, and all of Maguires scenes were deleted from the final film
8.
Kirsten Dunst
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Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress. She made her debut in Woody Allens short film Oedipus Wrecks for the anthology film New York Stories. At the age of twelve, Dunst gained widespread recognition as Claudia in Interview with the Vampire and she appeared in Little Women the same year and in Jumanji the following year. Dunst achieved fame for her portrayal of Mary Jane Watson in Sam Raimis Spider-Man trilogy and she played the title role in Sofia Coppolas biographical film Marie Antoinette and starred in the comedy film How to Lose Friends & Alienate People. She won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival and she starred in the second season of the television series Fargo in 2015, playing the role of Peggy Blumquist, a slightly delusional and neurotic hairdresser. In 2001, Dunst made her debut in the film Get Over It. She also sang the jazz song After Youve Gone for the end credits of the film The Cats Meow, Dunst was born in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, to Klaus Hermann Dunst and Inez Dunst. She has a brother, Christian. Her father worked as a medical services executive, and her mother worked for Lufthansa as an attendant and was an artist. Dunsts father is German, originally from Hamburg, and Dunsts mother was born in New Jersey, until the age of eleven, Dunst lived in Brick Township, New Jersey, where she attended Ranney School. In 1993, her parents separated, and she moved with her mother and brother to Los Angeles, California. In 1995, her mother filed for divorce, after graduating from Notre Dame in 2000, Dunst continued the acting career that she had begun. As a teenager, she found it difficult to deal with her rising fame, however, she later expressed that her mother always had the best intentions. When asked if she had any regrets about the way she spent her childhood, Dunst said, Well, its not a way to grow up. I have my stuff to work out, I dont think anybody can sit around and say, My life is more screwed up than yours. Dunst began her career when she was three years old as a fashion model in television commercials. She was signed with Ford Models and Elite Model Management, at the age of six, she made her feature film debut in a minor role in Woody Allens short film Oedipus Wrecks that was released as one-third of the anthology film New York Stories. Soon after, she co-starred with Tom Hanks in the comedy-drama The Bonfire of the Vanities, based on Tom Wolfes novel of the same name, where she played the daughter of Hanks character
9.
James Franco
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James Edward Franco is an American actor and filmmaker known for his work in both comedic and dramatic films and TV shows. For his role in 127 Hours, Franco was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor and he also portrayed the title character in the TV biographical film James Dean, for which he won a Golden Globe Award. He had recurring roles on the soap opera General Hospital and sitcom Angie Tribeca and he will star in the David Simon-created HBO drama The Deuce in 2017. Franco volunteers for the Art of Elysium charity, and has taught film classes at New York University, the University of Southern California, UCLA, Studio 4. Franco was born in Palo Alto, California and his mother, Betsy Lou, is a writer and occasional actress, and his father, Douglas Eugene Doug Franco, ran a Silicon Valley business. The two met as students at Stanford University, Francos father was of Portuguese and Swedish descent. Francos mother is Jewish, from a family of Russian Jewish ancestry and his maternal grandfather, Daniel, had changed the family surname from Verovitz to Verne some time after 1940. Francos paternal grandmother, Marjorie Franco, is an author of young adult books. Francos maternal grandmother, Mitzie Verne, owned the Verne Art Gallery, a prominent art gallery in Cleveland, Francos family upbringing was academic, liberal, and largely secular. He grew up in California with his two brothers, Tom and Dave, a math whiz, Franco interned at Lockheed Martin. He was often encouraged by his father to get good grades and he graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1996, where he acted in plays. This led to him attending CSSSA in 1998 for theatre, in his high school years, Franco was arrested for underage drinking, graffiti, and for being a part of a group that stole designer fragrances from department stores and sold them to classmates. These arrests led to his becoming a ward of the state. Facing the possibility of juvenile hall, Franco was given a chance by the judge. I was uncomfortable in my own skin, I changed my ways just in time to get good grades, he recalled of his troubles with the law. Although the idea of becoming a marine zoologist interested him, Franco had always wanted to become an actor. Franco instead chose to take acting lessons with Robert Carnegie at the Playhouse West, around this time, Franco took up a late-night job at McDonalds to support himself because his parents refused to do so. He was a vegetarian until working there, while working at the establishment, he would practice accents on customers, an experience he remembered nostalgically in a 2015 Washington Post editorial
10.
Thomas Haden Church
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Thomas Haden Church is an American actor, director, and writer. After co-starring in the 1990s sitcom Wings, Church became known for his roles, including his Academy Award-nominated performance in Sideways. He also made his debut with Rolling Kansas. Churchs parents divorced and his moved to Texas. She remarried in 1969, to widower George A. Quesada, Church took his stepfathers surname for a time. He was raised in Texas, first in Laredo, then in Harlingen. Ironically, in 1973, according to present at the time, he. However, the teacher chose his friend David Newman instead and he left high school in 1977 to work in the oil fields of Louisiana, but he returned to graduate from Harlingen High School in 1979. He attended the University of North Texas while living in Dallas, Church started in the entertainment business as a radio personality and doing voice-over work. He changed his name to Thomas Haden Church, taking Haden, after appearing in an independent film, he moved to California to pursue an acting career. He played the part of slow-witted aircraft mechanic Lowell Mather for six seasons on the NBC sitcom Wings and he worked in television for two more seasons with a lead role on Ned & Stacey opposite Debra Messing. He has had supporting roles in such as Tombstone, George of the Jungle. Church often plays villains or comic relief in films, most evident by turns in Demon Knight, Church bought a ranch in Texas in 1998. In late 2000 he took a break from films, after having small roles in films such as Monkeybone and 3000 Miles to Graceland, he made his directorial debut with Rolling Kansas in 2003. He has voiceover work in commercials, such as for Merrill Lynch, in 2003, director Alexander Payne called him regarding the role of Jack, the selfish best friend to Paul Giamattis character, in Sideways. During the audition, Church stripped naked to read the scene, later saying To me. I was reading the scene where Jack comes in naked and there has to be in-born vulnerability in the scene and he won an IFP Independent Spirit Award and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 2007, he appeared as the villain Sandman in Sam Raimis Spider-Man 3 starring Tobey Maguire, in 2005, he was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
11.
Topher Grace
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Christopher John Topher Grace is an American actor. Grace was born in New York City, New York, the son of Pat, an assistant to the schoolmaster of the New Canaan Country School, and John Grace, Grace was cast as Eric Forman on Foxs That 70s Show, which debuted in 1998. He played the role until season 7 and his character was written out and replaced with a new character named Randy Pearson. Grace made a brief guest appearance in the final episode, the joke is that youre supposed to play the worst version of yourself and I dont think too many people are comfortable with that. I never thought for a second that people were going to think thats what I was like. I think that people know that I was faking it in those movies. He planned to cameo in Oceans Thirteen, but, because of his role in Spider-Man 3, as Grace said, I was doing reshoots on Spider-Man 3. I actually talked to Steven Soderbergh about that and we had a thing and he also appeared in director Mike Newells 2003 film Mona Lisa Smile. In 2004, Grace played the roles in the Robert Luketic-directed Win a Date with Tad Hamilton. And the Paul Weitz dramedy, In Good Company, in which he played an ambitious and that same year, Grace also starred in the film P. S. which received only a limited theatrical release. Grace won the National Board of Reviews 2004 award for Breakthrough Performance Actor for his work in In Good Company, on January 15,2005, Grace hosted Saturday Night Live. In 2007, Grace portrayed Eddie Brock/Venom in Spider-Man 3, directed by Sam Raimi, Grace himself was a fan of the comics and read the Venom stories as a kid. In 2009, Grace became the subject of a column on the entertainment/pop culture site Videogum. In 2011, Grace appeared in the 1980s retro comedy Take Me Home Tonight and he co-wrote the script and co-produced the film. Grace also starred opposite Richard Gere in the spy thriller The Double, in 2014, Grace starred in the indie thriller The Calling, alongside Susan Sarandon, and appeared in Christopher Nolans sci-fi adventure Interstellar, in a supporting role. In October 2013, Grace joined HBO comedy pilot People In New Jersey with Sarah Silverman, but in January 2014, Grace co-starred in the comedy film American Ultra, alongside Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart, playing a CIA agent. Grace played Mike Smith, a researcher on the story, in January 2014, Grace joined the upcoming supernatural-thriller Delirium, which centers on a man, who is recently released from a mental institute, he inherits a mansion after his parents die. After a series of disturbing events, he comes to believe it is haunted, Grace started dating actress Ashley Hinshaw in January 2014, and the two were engaged in January 2015
12.
Bryce Dallas Howard
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Bryce Dallas Howard is an American film actress, director, producer, and writer. Howard attended New York Universitys Tisch School of the Arts, and her performance in Kenneth Branagh’s film adaptation of As You Like It earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination. In 2006, she co-wrote and directed the short film Orchids, Howard became more recognizable to audiences as Victoria in The Twilight Saga, Eclipse. This project, as well as Terminator Salvation, was financially successful, in 2011, she had supporting roles in 50/50 and The Help. She is signed to reprise her role in the two films in the franchise. Howard was born in Los Angeles, California, to writer Cheryl Howard Crew and actor-director Ron Howard and she has two younger sisters, twins Jocelyn and Paige, and a younger brother named Reed. Through her father, she is a granddaughter of actors Rance Howard and Jean Speegle Howard and her godfather is actor Henry Winkler, who co-starred on Happy Days with her father. All of the Howard children were raised away from the world of show business and their parents did not allow them access to television and instead encouraged outdoor activities and hobbies. At the age of 7, however, she was allowed to be an extra in her fathers movies, in an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, she mentioned that she and her siblings were babysat by family friend Tom Cruise on several occasions. She was raised in Westchester County, New York and on a farm in Greenwich, Howard attended Stagedoor Manor, a performing arts camp in upstate New York, with actress Natalie Portman. During her schooling, she took part in the recording of the Broadway-bound musical A Tale of Two Cities. She graduated with her BFA in Drama in 2003, Howard is also an alumna of the Steppenwolf Theatre Companys School at Steppenwolf in Chicago, and of The Actors Center in New York City. During her time in New York, Howard was also a member of theater company Theater Mitu, in residence at New York Theatre Workshop. For several years, Howard appeared in New York plays, among these were House & Garden, a 2002 Alan Ayckbourn production held at the Manhattan Theatre Club, in which she portrayed a disdainful, flirtatious teen. While performing as Rosalind in the critically acclaimed 2003 William Shakespeare comedy production As You Like It at The Public Theater, Howard was cast in Shyamalans fantasy thriller The Village two weeks later without having to audition. Its story is about a village whose residents live in fear of the creatures inhabiting the woods beyond it. She plays the lead, the chiefs blind daughter and love interest to Joaquin Phoenixs part. Her performance was applauded by critics and Howard was nominated for several awards, the Village did well commercially, but had a mixed reception
13.
James Cromwell
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James Oliver Cromwell is an American actor and producer. Cromwell has been nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards and he won his first Primetime Emmy Award for his role in American Horror Story, Asylum and a Canadian Screen Award for his role in Still Mine. Cromwell was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in Manhattan and he is the son of actress Kay Johnson and actor, director, and producer John Cromwell, who was blacklisted during the McCarthy era. He has English, German, Irish, and Scottish ancestry and he was educated at The Hill School, Middlebury College, and Carnegie Mellon University, where he studied architecture until he left to pursue acting. Like his parents, he was drawn to the theater, performing in everything from Shakespeare to experimental plays, cromwells first television performance was in a 1974 episode of The Rockford Files playing Terry, a tennis instructor. A few weeks later, he began a role as Stretch Cunningham on All in the Family. In 1980, Cromwell guest-starred in the two-part episode Laura Ingalls Wilder of the television series Little House on the Prairie. He played Harve Miller, one of Almanzo Wilders old friends, while Cromwell continued with regular television work throughout the 1980s, he made appearances in films for his supporting roles in the films Tank and Revenge of the Nerds. He guest starred on the sitcom Night Court, playing a mental patient and he had starring roles in the 1990s critically acclaimed films Babe, The People vs. Larry Flynt, L. A. Confidential, The Green Mile and he also played Dr. Zefram Cochrane in Star Trek, First Contact and the Star Trek, Enterprise pilot episode Broken Bow. He also voiced The Colonel in Dreamworks Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron, Cromwell has had additional successes on television throughout his career. His role as newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst in the television film RKO281 earned him an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Television Movie. The following year, he received his second Emmy Award nomination for playing Bishop Lionel Stewart on the NBC medical drama series ER, in 2004, he guest-starred as former President D. Wire Newman in the The West Wing episode The Stormy Present, from 2003 to 2005, Cromwell played George Sibley in the HBO drama series Six Feet Under, which earned him his third Emmy Award nomination in 2003. Along with the rest of his castmates, he was nominated for two Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2005 and 2006. The following year, Cromwell played Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in The Queen and he also guest starred as Phillip Bauer, father of lead character Jack, in the sixth season of the Fox thriller drama series 24. That same year he received the King Vidor Memorial Award from the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival for his achievements in film. More recently, Cromwell played George Herbert Walker Bush in Oliver Stones W. that chronicles the rise to power of his son up until the 2003 invasion of Iraq, in an interview, Cromwell revealed that Stone had originally offered the role to Warren Beatty and Harrison Ford
14.
Rosemary Harris
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Rosemary Ann Harris is an English actress best known for her role as Aunt May in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy. She is a 1986 American Theatre Hall of Fame inductee, Harris began her stage career in 1948, before making her Broadway debut in 1952. For her New York stage work she is a four-time Drama Desk Award winner and nine-time Tony Award nominee, on television, she won an Emmy Award for the 1974 TV serial Notorious Woman, and a Golden Globe for the 1978 miniseries Holocaust. For the 1994 film Tom & Viv, she received a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination and she is the mother of actress Jennifer Ehle. Harris was born in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, the daughter of Enid Maude Frances, one of her grandmothers, born into a family of boyars in Muntenia, was Romanian. Her father was in the Royal Air Force and as a result and she attended convent schools, and later studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art from 1951 to 1952. Early in her career, she gained experience in English repertory theatre. In 1948, she acted in Kiss and Tell at Eastbourne with Tilsa Page and John Clark and later with Anthony Cundells company at Penzance and she went from Penzance to train at RADA. She first appeared in New York in 1951 in Moss Harts Climate of Eden, but RB Marriott, in The Stage, found OToole to be a magnificent Prince and Rosemary Harris the most real and touching Ophelia. And Harold Hobson, in The Sunday Times, was overcome and she met Ellis Rabb who had plans to start his own producing company on Broadway. By 1959, the Association of Producing Artist was established, and she, in 1964, she was Ophelia to Peter OTooles Hamlet in the inaugural production of the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain. Returning to New York, she worked further with the APA, and then was cast as Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter, Rabb directed her one last time as Natasha in War and Peace in 1967, the same year they agreed to divorce. A little while later, Harris married the American writer John Ehle and they settled in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where their daughter, Jennifer, was born in 1969. Jennifer Ehle followed in her mothers footsteps by becoming a film, television. In 1974, Harris starred in the BBC TV serial Notorious Woman, for this role, she won the 1976 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series. She won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - TV Drama for the 1978 NBC miniseries Holocaust and she received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for the 1994 film Tom & Viv. Harris and her daughter Ehle, played the young and elderly incarnations, respectively, of the character in István Szabós 1999 film Sunshine. They had previously played the young and old Calypso in the 1992 Channel 4 adaptation of The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley, Harris appeared in the rotating cast of the Off-Broadway staged reading of Wit & Wisdom
15.
J. K. Simmons
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Jonathan Kimble J. K. Simmons is an American actor and voice actor. In television, he is known for playing Dr. Emil Skoda on the NBC series Law & Order, neo-Nazi Vernon Schillinger on the HBO prison-drama Oz and his film roles include J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimis Spider-Man trilogy and music instructor Terence Fletcher in 2014s Whiplash. He is also known for voicing Cave Johnson in the video game Portal 2, Tenzin in The Legend of Korra, Stanford Pines in Gravity Falls, Kai in Kung Fu Panda 3, and Mayor Lionheart in Zootopia. Simmons also reprised his role as J. Jonah Jameson in various Marvel animated series and he has also appeared in a series of television commercials for Farmers Insurance. Jonathan Kimble Simmons was born on January 9,1955 in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, the son of Patricia, an administrator, and Donald William Simmons, in 1965, when he was 10 years old, his family moved to Worthington, Ohio. In 1973, when he was 18, they moved to Missoula, Montana, the younger Simmons graduated from the University of Montana in 1978 with a music degree. During his tenure, he was part of the music-oriented fraternity Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. Later, Simmons moved to Seattle and became a member of the Seattle Repertory Theatre, on Broadway, Simmons played Benny Southstreet in the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls. In 1994 he sang roles in the Wagner opera satire. He also played the role of Jigger in a revival of Carousel with the Houston Grand Opera and he also stars as Ralph Earnhardt, the father of race-car driver Dale Earnhardt, in 3, The Dale Earnhardt Story. He plays Will Pope, Assistant Chief of the LAPD, in the series The Closer. In an interesting precursor to his joining the Law & Order cast as Skoda, Simmons appeared in Homicide, Life on the Street, portraying a criminal in a Law & Order cross-over episode. Other roles include that of a general in the television sitcom Arrested Development. He played B. R. in the film Thank You for Smoking and has been praised for his performance in Juno as Mac McGuff, in all three of Sam Raimis Spider-Man films, Simmons played J. Jonah Jameson, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Daily Bugle. In 2008, he played a CIA superior in Burn After Reading and he also appeared in I Love You, Man. Simmons starred in films produced or directed by his friend Jason Reitman, including Thank You for Smoking, Juno, Up in the Air. In 2013, he had a role as Mr. Jervis in Reitmans film Labor Day. He voices Tenzin, an Airbending master and the son of Aang and Katara and he starred as blind lawyer Mel Fisher in Growing Up Fisher
16.
Christopher Young
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Christopher Young is an American music composer for both film and television. Many of his compositions are for horror films, including Hellraiser, Tales from the Hood, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, Freddys Revenge, Urban Legend. Other works include Lucky You and Spider-Man 3, for which he received the Film & TV Music Award for Best Score for a Dramatic Feature Film and he also made three cameo appearances in Spider-Man 3. Young was honored with the prestigious Richard Kirk award at the 2008 BMI Film, the award is given annually to a composer who has made significant contributions to film and television music. Young was born in Red Bank, New Jersey and he graduated from Hampshire College in Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Arts in music, and then completed his post-graduate work at North Texas State University. In 1980, he moved to Los Angeles, originally a jazz drummer, when he heard some of Bernard Herrmanns works he decided to become a film composer. He studied at the UCLA Film School under David Raksin and he teaches at the Thornton School of Music of the University of Southern California
17.
Marvel Entertainment
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Marvel Entertainment, LLC is an American entertainment company founded in June 1998, merging Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. and ToyBiz. The company is an owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. In 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion, for financial reporting purposes, Marvel is reported as primarily a part of Disneys Consumer Products segment. Over the years, Marvel Entertainment has entered in several partnerships, as of 2017, Marvel has film licensing agreements with 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures, and a theme park licensing agreement with Universal Parks & Resorts extant before Disneys acquisition. Aside from their contract with Universal, Marvels characters and properties have appeared at Walt Disney Parks. It is a mini-Disney in terms of property, said Perelman. Disneys got much more highly recognized characters and softer characters, whereas our characters are termed action heroes, but at Marvel we are now in the business of the creation and marketing of characters. Marvel Entertainment Group then began expanding with acquisitions and forming new divisions, Marvel purchased the trading card company Fleer on July 24,1992. On April 30,1993, Marvel acquired 46% of ToyBiz, the Andrews Group named Avi Arad of ToyBiz as the president and CEO of the Marvel Films division and of New World Family Filmworks, Inc. a New World Entertainment subsidiary. In 1993 and 1994, Marvels holding companies — Marvel Holdings, Inc. and Marvel Parent Holdings, Marvel continued making acquisitions with Panini, an Italian sticker-maker on August 4,1994 for $158.4 million, and SkyBox International on March 8,1995 for $150 million. Marvel also purchased Heroes World Distribution, a distributor to comic-book shops on Dec.28,1994. While licensing revenue reached $50 million in 1995, MEG laid off 275 employees on January 4,1996, meanwhile, Carl Icahn began buying Marvels bonds at 20% of their value and moved to block Perelmans plan. The Marvel group of companies filed for bankruptcy on December 27,1996, in August 1996, Marvel created Marvel Studios, an incorporation of Marvel Films, due to the sale of its film and TV sister company, New World Communications Group, to News Corporation. Icahn fought to control of the company from Perelman. The court ruled on February 26,1997 that Icahn could foreclose on a controlling interest in Marvel shares put up for collateral for the companys bonds, finally Icahn took control of Marvels board and became Marvels chairman on June 20. Bankruptcy proceedings continued with multi-way arguments among Perelman, Icahn, Toy Biz, a plan for reorganization agreed to by Icahn and the MEGs secured creditors fell apart on October 8 with the introduction of the better Toy Biz plan. The Bankruptcy Court on December 24 appointed a trustee to oversee the company, in June 1997, Marvel formed its Marvel Enterprise division, headed by president and CEO Scott C. Marden, to manage its trading card and sticker businesses, as well as Marvel Interactive, the lawsuit asked for $470.8 million in damages
18.
Columbia Pictures
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The studio was founded in 1918 as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Jacks best friend Joe Brandt, released its first feature film in August 1922. It adopted the Columbia Pictures name in 1924, and went public two years later and its name is derived from Columbia, a national personification of the United States, which is used as the studios logo. In its early years, it was a player in Hollywood. With Capra and others, Columbia became one of the homes of the screwball comedy. In the 1930s, Columbias major contract stars were Jean Arthur, in the 1940s, Rita Hayworth became the studios premier star and propelled their fortunes into the late 1950s. Rosalind Russell, Glenn Ford, and William Holden also became major stars at the studio, in 1982, the studio was purchased by The Coca-Cola Company, and launched TriStar Pictures as a joint venture with HBO and CBS. Five years later, Coca-Cola spun off Columbia, which was sold to Tri-Star, after a brief period of independence with Coca-Cola maintaining a financial interest, the combined studio was acquired by Sony in 1989. It is one of the film studios in the world. It was one of the so-called Little Three among the eight major film studios of Hollywoods Golden Age, Brandt was president of CBC Film Sales, handling sales, marketing and distribution from New York along with Jack Cohn, while Harry Cohn ran production in Hollywood. The studios early productions were short subjects, Screen Snapshots, the Hall Room Boys. The start-up CBC leased space in a Poverty Row studio on Hollywoods famously low-rent Gower Street, among Hollywoods elite, the studios small-time reputation led some to joke that CBC stood for Corned Beef and Cabbage. Brandt eventually tired of dealing with the Cohn brothers, and sold his stake to Harry Cohn. In an effort to improve its image, the Cohn brothers renamed the company Columbia Pictures Corporation on January 10,1924, Cohn remained head of production as well, thus concentrating enormous power in his hands. He would run Columbia for the next 34 years, the second-longest tenure of any studio chief, even in an industry rife with nepotism, Columbia was particularly notorious for having a number of Harry and Jacks relatives in high positions. Humorist Robert Benchley called it the Pine Tree Studio, because it has so many Cohns, Columbias product line consisted mostly of moderately budgeted features and short subjects including comedies, sports films, various serials, and cartoons. Columbia gradually moved into the production of higher-budget fare, eventually joining the tier of Hollywood studios along with United Artists. Like United Artists and Universal, Columbia was an integrated company. It controlled production and distribution, it did not own any theaters, helping Columbias climb was the arrival of an ambitious director, Frank Capra
19.
Roppongi Hills Mori Tower
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Roppongi Hills Mori Tower is a 54-story mixed-use skyscraper located in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo. Completed in 2003 and named for builder Minoru Mori, it is the centerpiece of the Roppongi Hills urban development and it is currently the sixth-tallest building in Tokyo at 238 meters. The tower has a floor area of 379, 408m squared. The Mori Tower building is used for office space, but it also includes retail stores, restaurants. The Mori Art Museum is located on the 53rd floor and visitors can view the city from observation decks on the 52nd, the headquarters of Mori Building Company are located in this building. Mori Tower is a facility that is used for retail. The towers first six floors house retail stores and restaurants, the Mori Arts Center is located on floors 49–54. This center includes various tourist attractions spread over the top six floors. Two members-only facilities—a library and a private club—are located on floors 49 and 51, visitors are provided with views of the city at Tokyo City View on the 52nd floor and an open-air roof deck on the 54th floor. Opening in October 2003, the Mori Art Museum is the centerpiece of the Mori Arts Center and its interior was designed by Gluckman Mayner Architects, and it originally occupied the entire 53rd floor as well as a portion of the 52nd floor. The museums galleries on the 52nd floor have since been removed, british-born David Elliott served as the museums director until he resigned in late 2006, and Fumio Nanjo assumed the position. The museum is one of the venues in Tokyo with a percentage of foreign visitors comparable to the Tokyo National Museum. Floors 7–48 serve as space and house various corporate tenants, including. Barclays Bank and Barclays Capital Booz & Company BASF Goldman Sachs Google Japan GREE, lenovo Japan Ltd. Japan have since relocated to the new tower. Prior to its bankruptcy, Lehman Brothers occupied the space occupied by Barclays. While on a tour of Mori Tower on the morning of March 26,2004, mizokawas head was crushed between the door rotating from his left and the outer frame, he died two hours after reaching the hospital. The doors motion safety sensor was originally set to detect anything standing 80 centimeters tall and this setting was changed to 135 centimeters, however, after the door began stopping unnecessarily when detecting a newly installed, nearby safety barrier. After the incident, it was revealed that 32 people had previously sustained injuries caused by revolving doors at Roppongi Hills since the complex opened less than a year earlier
20.
Superhero film
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Most superhero movies are based on superhero comics. Almost immediately after superheroes rose to prominence in comic books, they were adapted into Saturday film serials aimed at children, serials such as Adventures of Captain Marvel, Batman, The Phantom, Captain America, and Superman followed. Another early superhero film was Ōgon Bat, a Japanese film starring Sonny Chiba based on the 1930 Kamishibai superhero Ōgon Bat, other successful entries emerged throughout the 1980s, from Richard Lesters Superman II and Paul Verhoevens Robocop to Tim Burtons Batman. Marvel Comics Captain America did not have a release and Roger Cormans The Fantastic Four was released neither theatrically nor on home video. Alex Proyas The Crow became the first independent comics superhero film that established a franchise, the success of The Crow catalyzed the release of a film version of Spawn, Image Comics leading character. The success of the darker Image Comics characters shifted the direction of comic book movies, Marvel soon released their films to become franchises, Men in Black and Blade. After Marvel bought Malibu Comics, Marvel and Columbia Pictures released the Men in Black film, the film became the first Marvel property to win an Oscar and the then highest-grossing comic book adaptation until the release of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man in 2002. Blade was also a mix of a traditional action film as well as darker superhero film with the title character having superpowers as well as carrying an arsenal of weaponry. The success of Blade began Marvels film success, and set the stage for further comic film adaptations. The success of the X-Men TV series had made 20th Century Fox license the rights in 1994. After the success of Men in Black in 1997, Columbia Pictures licensed the rights of Spider-Man in 1999. 20th Century Foxs X-Men became a franchise by its surprise hit. Later, one of the largest blockbusters of all time was released with Sam Raimis Spider-Man. One, Krrish 3, several non-action film oriented superhero films were released in the 2000s with varying ranges of success. Brad Birds The Incredibles for Pixar was a critically acclaimed digitally-animated family oriented superhero film, other hybrids include Sky High and Zoom which were fusions of the superhero and family film genres, My Super Ex-Girlfriend a combination of superhero film and a romantic comedy. Some series from the current and previous decades were also re-released, such as Superman II, bryan Singers Superman Returns is unique due to the fact that it is a sequel to the first two Superman films, yet also a reboot to the third and fourth films. The 2010s has generally continued the success of superhero films seen in the previous decade. In 2010, Matthew Vaughns adaption of Kick-Ass was released, followed by Iron Man 2 a month later,2011 releases included The Green Hornet, Green Lantern, and X-Men, First Class. Following references to the Avengers Initiative in the Iron Man films and The Incredible Hulk, Marvel released Thor on May 6,2011, followed by Captain America, the Avengers broke the box office record as the highest-grossing superhero film of all time
21.
Marvel Comics
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Marvel Comics is the common name and primary imprint of Marvel Worldwide Inc. formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, an American publisher of comic books and related media. In 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Worldwides parent company, Marvel started in 1939 as Timely Publications, and by the early 1950s had generally become known as Atlas Comics. Marvels modern incarnation dates from 1961, the year that the company launched The Fantastic Four and other superhero titles created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and many others. Most of Marvels fictional characters operate in a reality known as the Marvel Universe. Martin Goodman founded the later known as Marvel Comics under the name Timely Publications in 1939. Martin Goodman, a magazine publisher who had started with a Western pulp in 1933, was expanding into the emerging—and by then already highly popular—new medium of comic books. The issue was a success, with it and a second printing the following month selling, combined. While its contents came from an outside packager, Funnies, Inc, Timely had its own staff in place by the following year. It, too, proved a hit, with sales of one million. Goodman formed Timely Comics, Inc. beginning with comics cover-dated April 1941 or Spring 1941, Goodman hired his wifes cousin, Stanley Lieber, as a general office assistant in 1939. Lee wrote extensively for Timely, contributing to a number of different titles, Goodmans business strategy involved having his various magazines and comic books published by a number of corporations all operating out of the same office and with the same staff. One of these companies through which Timely Comics was published was named Marvel Comics by at least Marvel Mystery Comics #55. As well, some covers, such as All Surprise Comics #12, were labeled A Marvel Magazine many years before Goodman would formally adopt the name in 1961. The post-war American comic market saw superheroes falling out of fashion and this globe branding united a line put out by the same publisher, staff and freelancers through 59 shell companies, from Animirth Comics to Zenith Publications. Atlas also published a plethora of childrens and teen humor titles, including Dan DeCarlos Homer the Happy Ghost, Atlas unsuccessfully attempted to revive superheroes from late 1953 to mid-1954, with the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner, and Captain America. Atlas did not achieve any hits and, according to Stan Lee, Atlas survived chiefly because it produced work quickly, cheaply. During this time, the Comic Code Authority made its debut in September 1954, Wertham published the book Seduction of the Innocent in order to force people to see that comics were impacting American youth. He believed violent comics were causing children to be reckless and were turning them into delinquents, in September 1954, comic book publishers got together to set up their own self-censorship organization—the Comics Magazine Association of America—in order to appease audiences
22.
Spider-Man in film
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The first live-action film based on Spider-Man was the short Spider-Man by Donald F. Glut in 1969. This was followed by Spider-Man, an American made-for-television film that premiered on the CBS network in 1977 and it starred Nicholas Hammond and was intended as a backdoor pilot for what became a weekly episodic TV series. The first two films were met with reviews from critics, while the third film met mixed reviews. In 2010, Sony announced that the franchise would be rebooted, Marc Webb was hired to direct, with Andrew Garfield starring, and The Amazing Spider-Man was released to positive reviews. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 saw mixed reviews and this younger version of Peter Parker is played by Tom Holland, and appears in Captain America, Civil War before starring in Spider-Man, Homecoming in 2017 and Avengers, Infinity War in 2018. A sequel to Homecoming is slated for 2019, Raimis trilogy grossed nearly US$2.5 billion worldwide on a $597 million total budget, while Webbs films grossed over $1.4 billion on a $480 million total budget. The Spider-Man films are the eighth highest-grossing film franchise, having grossed over $3.9 billion collectively, in 1977, the pilot episode of The Amazing Spider-Man television series was released by Columbia Pictures as Spider-Man outside of the United States. In 1978, episodes from the series were re-edited and released outside of the United States as a feature film titled Spider-Man Strikes Back. In 1981, a film using the same method was released as Spider-Man. On July 22,1978, Tōei released a theatrical spin-off of their Spider-Man TV series at the Tōei Cartoon Festival, the film was directed by Kōichi Takemoto, who also directed eight episodes of the TV series. The week after the release, a character introduced in the film, Jūzō Mamiya. Like the rest of the series, the film was available for streaming on Marvels official website in 2009. The low box office performance of 1983s Superman III made feature-film adaptations of comic book properties a very low priority in Hollywood until the 1990s, in 1985, after a brief option on Spider-Man by Roger Corman expired, Marvel Comics optioned the property to Cannon Films. Cannon chiefs Menahem Golan and his cousin Yoram Globus agreed to pay Marvel Comics $225,000 over the five-year option period, however, the rights would revert to Marvel if a film was not made by April 1990. Tobe Hooper, then preparing both Invaders From Mars and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, was mooted as director, Golan and Globus misunderstood the concept of the character and instructed writer Leslie Stevens, creator of The Outer Limits, to write a treatment reflecting their misconception. In Stevens story, a corporate scientist intentionally subjects ID-badge photographer Peter Parker to radioactive bombardment, transforming him into a hairy, suicidal and this human tarantula refuses to join the scientist’s new master-race of mutants, battling a succession of mutations kept in a basement laboratory. Unhappy with this perceived debasement of his comic creation, Marvel’s Stan Lee pushed for a new story and screenplay, written for Cannon by Ted Newsom. The variation on the story had Otto Octavius as a teacher
23.
Spider-Man (2002 film)
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Spider-Man is a 2002 American superhero film directed by Sam Raimi. Exercising its option on just two elements from the acquisition, Sony hired David Koepp to create a working screenplay. Directors Roland Emmerich, Ang Lee, Chris Columbus, Jan de Bont, M. Night Shyamalan, Tony Scott, the Koepp script was rewritten by Scott Rosenberg during preproduction and received a dialogue polish from Alvin Sargent during production. Filming took place in Los Angeles, and New York City from January 8 to June 30,2001, Spider-Man premiered in the Philippines on April 30,2002, and had its general release in the United States on May 3,2002. It became a critical and financial success, for its time, it was the only film to reach $100 million in its first weekend, had the largest opening weekend gross of all time, and was the most successful film based on a comic book. With $821.7 million worldwide, it was 2002s third-highest-grossing film and is the 56th-highest-grossing film of all time, the film was nominated at the 75th Academy Awards ceremony for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Mixing. Due to the success of the film, Columbia Pictures and Marvel released two sequels, Spider-Man 2 in 2004, and Spider-Man 3 in 2007, high-school senior Peter Parker is a school outcast and bully victim. On a school trip, he visits a genetics laboratory with his friend Harry Osborn. There, Peter is bitten by a genetically engineered super spider, shortly after arriving home, he becomes ill and falls unconscious. Meanwhile, Harrys father, scientist Norman Osborn, owner of Oscorp, is attempting to secure an important military weapons contract and he experiments on himself with an unstable performance-enhancing chemical. After absorbing the chemical, he goes insane, kills his assistant, the next morning, Peter discovers that he is no longer near-sighted, and his body has metamorphosized into a more muscular physique. At school, he finds that his body can produce webs from the wrists, brushing off his Uncle Bens advice that with great power comes great responsibility, Peter considers impressing Mary Jane with a car. He enters a wrestling tournament and wins his first match. When a thief suddenly raids the promoters office, Peter allows him to escape in revenge, moments later, he discovers that Ben has been carjacked and shot, dying in Peters arms. Overcome with anger and vengeance, Peter corners, subdues and tries to kill the carjacker, the thief attempts to flee, but trips and falls out a window to his death instead. Meanwhile, at Oscorps chief competitor Quest Aerospace, during a weapons test Norman kills several scientists, upon graduating, Peter begins using his abilities to fight crime, donning a costume and the persona of Spider-Man. J. Norman, upon learning Oscorps board members plan to sell the company, attacks them at the World Unity Fair, jameson quickly dubs the mysterious killer the Green Goblin. The Goblin offers Spider-Man a place at his side, but gives him time to think about it, meanwhile, after meeting Peter again, Mary Jane is followed by four men down an alley
24.
Spider-Man 2
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Spider-Man 2 is a 2004 American superhero film directed by Sam Raimi and written by Alvin Sargent from a story by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, and Michael Chabon. The sequel to the 2002 film Spider-Man, it is the film in Raimis Spider-Man film trilogy based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name. Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and James Franco reprise their roles as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson. Spider-Man must stop him from successfully recreating the experiment, which threatens to annihilate the city, Spider-Man 2 was released in both conventional and IMAX theaters on June 30,2004. It grossed $783.8 million worldwide and won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and it also received five awards at the Saturn Awards ceremony including Best Fantasy Film and Best Director for Raimi. The films success led to the release of Spider-Man 3 in 2007, Peter Parker struggles to balance his crime-fighting duties as Spider-Man with the demands of his normal life. Estranged from both love interest Mary Jane Watson and best friend Harry Osborn, Peter additionally discovers his Aunt May is facing eviction. Harry, now head of Oscorps research division, is sponsoring brilliant nuclear scientist Otto Octavius fusion power project, while handling hazardous materials, Octavius wears a harness of powerful robotic tentacle arms with artificial intelligence. During a public demonstration, in which Peter and Harry attend, Octavius refuses to shut down the reactor, which goes critical, killing his wife and shattering the inhibitor chip blocking the arms from his nervous system. Spider-Man arrives and shuts down the experiment, destroying it, at a hospital, doctors prepare to surgically remove Octaviuss harness. However, without the chip to keep the arms supported to the nervous system. Upon regaining consciousness and seeing the carnage, Octavius escapes and takes refuge at a harbour, becoming increasingly influenced by the arms AI, Octavius robs a bank that Peter and May are coincidentally visiting in order to fund a second experiment. Octavius takes May hostage but is rescued by Peter as Spider-Man, the Daily Bugle subsequently dubs Octavius Doctor Octopus. Mary Jane becomes engaged to astronaut John Jameson, son of Bugle chief J. Jonah Jameson, Peter suffers an emotional breakdown and temporarily loses his powers. He abandons his Spider-Man identity, returns to his normal life, a garbageman brings Spider-Mans costume to Jameson, who takes credit for driving Spider-Man into hiding. Peter decides to tell Aunt May the truth behind Uncle Bens death, may forgives him, but the rise in New York City crime rate worries Peter. Octavius, requiring the isotope tritium to fuel his reactor, visits Harry to demand it, Harry agrees in exchange for Spider-Mans life. He tells Octavius to seek Peter, who is good friends with Spider-Man
25.
Cliff Robertson
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Clifford Parker Cliff Robertson III was an American actor with a film and television career that spanned half a century. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film PT109 and his last well-known film appearances were in 2002 through 2007 as Uncle Ben in the Spider-Man film trilogy. Robertson was born in La Jolla, California, the son of Clifford Parker Robertson, Jr. and his first wife and his Texas-born father was described as the idle heir to a tidy sum of ranching money. Robertson once said, was a romantic figure – tall. He married four or five times, and between marriages hed pop in to see me and he was a great raconteur, and he was always surrounded by sycophants who let him pick up the tab. During the Depression, he tapped the trust for $500,000, Robertsons parents divorced when he was one, and his mother died of peritonitis a year later in El Paso, Texas, at the age of 21. He was raised by his grandmother, Mary Eleanor Eleanora Willingham, in California. He graduated in 1941 from La Jolla High School, where he was known as The Walking Phoenix, merchant Marine in World War II, before attending Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio and dropping out to work as a journalist for a short time. Robertson was President John F. Kennedys personal choice to him in 1963s PT109. The next year, Robertson played a presidential candidate in The Best Man, Late in his life Robertsons career had a resurgence. He appeared as Uncle Ben Parker in Sam Raimis Spider-Man, as well as in the sequels Spider-Man 2 and he commented on his website, Since Spider-Man 1 and 2, I seem to have a whole new generation of fans. That in itself is a fine residual and he was also in the horror film Riding the Bullet. In 1989, he was a member of the jury at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival, Robertson also appeared as a special guest star on Wagon Train for one episode, portraying an Irish immigrant. In 1958, Robertson portrayed Joe Clay in the first broadcast of Playhouse 90s Days of Wine, in 1960, he was cast as Martinus Van Der Brig, a con man, in the episode End of a Dream of Riverboat. Other appearances included The Twilight Zone episodes A Hundred Yards Over the Rim and The Dummy, followed by the The Eleventh Hour in the 1963 episode and he guest-starred on such television series as The Greatest Show on Earth, Breaking Point and ABC Stage 67. He had starring roles in episodes of both the 1960s and 1990s versions of The Outer Limits and he was awarded an Emmy for his leading role in a 1965 episode, The Game of Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre. He appeared twice as a guest-villain on ABCs Batman as the gunfighter Shame, in 1976, he portrayed a retired Buzz Aldrin in an adaptation of Aldrins autobiography Return to Earth. In 1987, he portrayed Henry Ford in Ford, The Man, from 1983-84, he played Dr. Michael Ranson in Falcon Crest
26.
Mary Jane Watson
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Mary Jane MJ Watson is a fictional character, a supporting character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and John Romita, Sr. the character made her first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #25 and she has been the best friend, main love interest, and wife of Peter Parker, the alter ego of Spider-Man. Parker consistently worms his way out of meeting Mary Jane who, aside from a brief appearance in #25 with her face obscured, is never actually seen until The Amazing Spider-Man #42. Romita has stated that in designing Mary Jane, he used Ann-Margret from the movie Bye Bye Birdie as a guide, using her coloring, the shape of her face, her red hair and her form-fitting short skirts. We, ourselves, felt that Mary Jane ended up being not only more attractive but more fun and more interesting, and we decided to let Peter end up with her. As though the characters had taken over, the names Mary Jane and M. J. are also common slang terms for marijuana. When asked about this, Stan Lee claimed it was purely coincidental, gerry Conway succeeded Stan Lee as writer of The Amazing Spider-Man in 1972. Conway pushed Mary Jane to the forefront of the cast, like Lee, Conway found Mary Jane to be more compelling than Gwen, hadnt lost the edge that made her an interesting character. She was just a nice person, in 1987, the character was married to Spider-Man in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21. As a consequence, writer J. M. DeMatteis made Mary Jane and her marriage to Spider-Man one of the themes of the critically acclaimed Kravens Last Hunt. DeMatteis commented that Kraven’s Last Hunt has a lot of darkness in it, but the story primarily is about Peter and his journey into the light, the reason Peter makes it out is because he has Mary Jane in his life, and that is his salvation. Mary Janes relatively unknown early life was explored in The Amazing Spider-Man #259. Mary Jane made her first actual appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #25 and it is not until The Amazing Spider-Man #42 that her face is actually seen. In that issue, on the last page, Peter finally meets her, Peter begins to date her, much to the annoyance of Gwen Stacy. However, they become irritated with each other and Peter subsequently chooses to date Gwen. Mary Jane, who becomes Harry Osborns love interest and girlfriend, remains a friend to Peter. Despite her enjoyment of life, her friendships, and dating, when her relationship with Harry Osborn comes to an end, it has significant impact on Harry, driving him to a drug overdose. This in turn creates an effect, driving his father Norman Osborn to the brink of insanity
27.
Harry Osborn
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Harold Harry Osborn is a fictional superhero and ex anti-hero in the Marvel Comics Universe. The character first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #31, and was created by Stan Lee and he is Peter Parkers best friend, the son of Norman Osborn, and second incarnation of Green Goblin. Harry Osborn first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #31, and was created by writer Stan Lee, in The Amazing Spider-Man #122, Harrys father, Norman, is killed off, and a subplot leading to Harry Osborn inheriting his fathers identity as the Green Goblin is introduced. This subplot culminates in The Amazing Spider-Man #136, I could imagine Harry getting hit by something like that, in the fragile emotional state following the death of his father, and losing touch with reality, as a result. Besides, I never had any intention of getting rid of the Green Goblin as a concept forever, following his death in The Spectacular Spider-Man #200, he was not seen until his resurrection in The Amazing Spider-Man #545. He received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update 89 #5, Harry Osborn is the son of Norman Osborn and Emily Lyman. The circumstances of Harrys birth weakens Emily, and she dies after a long illness, heartbroken, Norman becomes a cold and unloving father, Norman either contemptuously dismisses Harry or lashes out at him in fury. As a result, Harry spends much of his life trying desperately to earn his fathers approval, upon graduating from high school, he enrolls in Empire State University. Among the wealthiest students in the school, Harry soon becomes one of the most popular as well and he has a clique of rich, popular students around him, one of these is the lovely Gwen Stacy. Gwen is intrigued by a new student, bookish, studious, Harry takes a dislike to Parker, he resents the attention Gwen pays to Peter, and he assumes that Peters standoffishness is snobbery. After confronting Parker, Harry realizes that Peter is merely shy and is worried about his ailing aunt May Parker. Despite this rocky start, Harry and Peter became friends, eventually sharing an apartment, Harry does not realize that his best friend is the superhero Spider-Man, nor that his father became the supervillain Green Goblin in an accident while attempting to create a super-serum. Moreover, before he became friends with Harry, Spider-Man was unmasked and captured by Green Goblin, during the subsequent battle, an electric shock removed all memory of being Green Goblin from Normans mind. Spider-Man then hid all evidence of Normans double identity, to keep Harry from being hurt by the revelation, however, Normans Green Goblin persona resurfaces from time to time. These are difficult times for Harry, as his fathers periodic episodes are unexplainable and he had experimented with drugs in his teens, but he escalates his usage, as well as trying ever-harder substances. This affects his mental stability and his relationships with his friends, Spider-Man uses this to his advantage during one battle with Green Goblin, he is able to stop the fight by showing Norman his sons emaciated condition, brought on by an accidental cocaine overdose. The sight shocks Norman so much that it him back to sanity. Harry Osborn is dumped by Mary Jane Watson due to being fed up with his self-destructive lifestyle, disconsolate, Harry turns to drugs and suffers an amphetamine overdose
28.
Sandman (Marvel Comics)
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Sandman is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. A shapeshifter endowed through an accident with the ability to turn himself into sand, he began as a villain and later became an ally of Spider-Man. The character has been adapted into other media incarnations of Spider-Man, including animated cartoons. In 2009, Sandman was ranked as IGNs 72nd Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time, the Sandman first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #4, created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko as an adversary of Spider-Man. The character returned in The Amazing Spider-Man #18 and #19, and was depicted in other comics, such as The Incredible Hulk. The Sandman served as the villain of the first issue of the Spider-Man spin-off series Marvel Team-Up, writer Roy Thomas later commented, Ive been pleased to see Sandmans gradual redemption, whose seeds perhaps I helped plant in that story. He just seemed to me like a character who might have that in him, the Sandman was later an ally of Spider-Man, as well as a member of the Avengers and Silver Sables Wild Pack team of mercenaries. William Baker was born in Queens, New York, when he was three years old, his father abandoned him and his mother. In these early years she took her son to Coney Island beach and he lost himself happily in sand sculptures, a craft he would use in secondary school under the encouragement of his teacher, Miss Flint. Vic and his buddies eventually befriended Baker, in high school, William played on his schools football team, using the sport to channel his anger. While playing football he adopted the nickname Flint, after his former teacher, after Vic incurs a large gambling debt to a mobster, he begs Flint to fix a football game he bet on to pay off his debt. Flint does, but is kicked off the team after the coach discovers his involvement, the coach taunts Baker, telling him that he will accomplish nothing of importance in his life. Flint hits his ex-coach, resulting in his expulsion from school and his illegal activity increases in depth and scope, turning him into a violent, bitter man. Eventually he ends up in prison on Rykers Island where he meets his father and he is friendly to his father but does not tell him who he is. He tells Floyd his nickname, Flint, and a surname, Marko. He uses the alias Flint Marko from that point on, after Floyd is released from prison, Marko escapes. Marko flees to a testing site on a beach near Savannah. His body and the radioactive sand bond, changing Markos molecular structure into sand, impressed, he calls himself the Sandman after his new powers
29.
Particle accelerator
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A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to nearly light speed and to contain them in well-defined beams. Large accelerators are used in physics as colliders, or as synchrotron light sources for the study of condensed matter physics. There are currently more than 30,000 accelerators in operation around the world, there are two basic classes of accelerators, electrostatic and electrodynamic accelerators. Electrostatic accelerators use electric fields to accelerate particles. The most common types are the Cockcroft–Walton generator and the Van de Graaff generator, a small-scale example of this class is the cathode ray tube in an ordinary old television set. The achievable kinetic energy for particles in these devices is determined by the accelerating voltage, electrodynamic or electromagnetic accelerators, on the other hand, use changing electromagnetic fields to accelerate particles. Since in these types the particles can pass through the accelerating field multiple times. This class, which was first developed in the 1920s, is the basis for most modern large-scale accelerators, because colliders can give evidence of the structure of the subatomic world, accelerators were commonly referred to as atom smashers in the 20th century. Despite the fact that most accelerators actually propel subatomic particles, the term persists in popular usage when referring to particle accelerators in general. Beams of high-energy particles are useful for both fundamental and applied research in the sciences, and also in many technical and industrial fields unrelated to fundamental research and it has been estimated that there are approximately 30,000 accelerators worldwide. The bar graph shows the breakdown of the number of industrial accelerators according to their applications, for the most basic inquiries into the dynamics and structure of matter, space, and time, physicists seek the simplest kinds of interactions at the highest possible energies. These typically entail particle energies of many GeV, and the interactions of the simplest kinds of particles, leptons and quarks for the matter, the largest and highest energy particle accelerator used for elementary particle physics is the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, operating since 2009. These investigations often involve collisions of heavy nuclei – of atoms like iron or gold – at energies of several GeV per nucleon, the largest such particle accelerator is the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory. An example of type of machine is LANSCE at Los Alamos. A large number of light sources exist worldwide. The ESRF in Grenoble, France has been used to extract detailed 3-dimensional images of trapped in amber. Thus there is a demand for electron accelerators of moderate energy. Everyday examples of particle accelerators are cathode ray tubes found in television sets and these low-energy accelerators use a single pair of electrodes with a DC voltage of a few thousand volts between them
30.
Extraterrestrials in fiction
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Extraterrestrials, a common theme in modern science-fiction, also appeared in much earlier works such as the second-century parody True History by Lucian of Samosata. An extraterrestrial or alien is any extraterrestrial lifeform, a lifeform that did not originate on Earth, the word extraterrestrial means outside Earth. The first published use of extraterrestrial as a noun occurred in 1956, gary Westfahl writes, Science fiction aliens are both metaphors and real possibilities. One can probe the nature of humanity with aliens that by contrast illustrate, thus, aliens will likely remain a central theme in science fiction until we actually encounter them. Cosmic pluralism, the assumption there are many inhabited worlds beyond the human sphere predates modernity. Other worlds are depicted in early works as the 10th-century Japanese narrative, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. In Johannes Keplers Somnium, published in 1634, the character Duracotus is transported to the moon by demons, even if much of the story is fantasy, the scientific facts about the moon and how the lunar environment has shaped its non-human inhabitants are science fiction. The didactic poet Henry More took up the theme of Cosmic pluralism of the Greek Democritus in Democritus Platonissans. In The Excursion David Mallet exclaimed, Ten thousand worlds blaze forth, stories written before the genre of science fiction had found its form. Closer to the age is J. -H. Rosny, who wrote the short story Les Xipéhuz, about an encounter with extraterrestrials who turns out to be a mineral life form impossible to communicate with. Authors such as H. G. Wells, Olaf Stapledon, the notion surfaces in Ursula K. Le Guins Hainish novels and was introduced to justify the humanoid aliens of Star Trek in the Star Trek, another common idea is aliens who closely resemble animals. Weinbaums A Martian Odyssey encouraged writers to create genuinely unusual aliens, Olaf Stapledon also populated the universe with disparate aliens, including sentient stars, in Star Maker. Later, Hal Clement, a science fiction writer famed for strange but plausible worlds
31.
Symbiote (comics)
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The Symbiotes are a fictional race of amorphous extraterrestrial parasites which appear in the Marvel Comics shared universe. The Symbiotes envelop their hosts like costumes, creating a bond through which the hosts mind can be influenced. The first appearance of a symbiote occurs in The Amazing Spider-Man #252, The Spectacular Spider-Man #90, the concept was created by a Marvel Comics reader, with the publisher purchasing the idea for $220. The original design was modified by Mike Zeck, becoming the Venom symbiote. The concept would be explored and used throughout multiple storylines, spin-off comics, the corrupted Klyntar became more widespread than their benevolent counterparts, establishing a space faring culture dedicated to infecting and overtaking planets. The corrupted Klyntar force their hosts to perform death-defying feats in order to feed off of the rushes of adrenaline. These host beings would be sucked dry, exhausted by the constant stress and exertion, at some point, corrupted symbiotes overran a planet which was later devoured by Galactus. Due to their memory, all symbiotes now loathe both Galactus and his former herald, the Silver Surfer. The Venom symbiote is the first permanent symbiote resident of Earth, yet having communicated with Deadpools twisted psyche drove the symbiote insane. Stung by the rejection, the symbiote went looking for Deadpool again and bonded with him a second time, as the hate for the superhero began to grow. The symbiote eventually went to Eddie Brock and during time it remained bonded with Brock, it spawned six children. Brock would soon reform and spent an amount of time trying to become a hero with the suit. Though originally happy with Brock, because Brock blamed Spider-Man for his failures and it is later revealed that it only stuck with him because of cancer of his adrenal glands. Since then, the Venom suit has gradually grown more and more monstrous and it is currently bonded to Flash Thompson, who struggles to control it, but the symbiote has recently been shown to be developing some slight affection for him. Likewise, the various symbiotes bonded to heroes are not shown to be as twisted and this story arc was later confirmed to be drawn by Mark Bagley, as Medina would be unavailable. Solicitations state that the New Avengers will also be part of this arc, New Avengers #34 revealed that Doctor Doom is responsible for dropping a Venom Bomb on New York that unleashes the symbiotes. The story was completed in Mighty Avengers #8, further backstory reveals that Doctor Doom collected a tiny sample of the symbiotes cells from the drone he had sent in earlier. Later, it is revealed that Kristoff Vernard actually orchestrated this so that Doom would be arrested for the event above, a swarm of Brood that had been overtaken by symbiotes later invade the S. W. O. R. D
32.
Gwen Stacy
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Gwendolyn Maxine Gwen Stacy is a fictional character who appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, usually as a supporting character in those featuring Spider-Man. A college student, she was a romantic interest for Peter Parker before she was murdered by the Green Goblin. Spider-Man writers and fans often debate whether Peters one true love is Gwen Stacy, stories published long after her death indicate that Gwen still holds a special place in his heart. The character has been portrayed by Bryce Dallas Howard in the 2007 film Spider-Man 3 and by Emma Stone in the 2012 reboot film The Amazing Spider-Man, created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, Gwen Stacy first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #31. Furious, she dates both Flash Thompson and Harry Osborn, gradually, however, a romance develops, Gwen, a science major, seems to appreciate Peters intellectual personality. Their relationship begins almost immediately after Peter stops going out with Mary Jane, later issues introduced Gwens father, Captain George Stacy. Gwen blames Spider-Man for his death, and leaves for Europe to cope with her loss and she wants Peter to ask her to marry him and convince her to stay, but his guilt stops him from proposing. Gwens feelings for Peter eventually prompt her to return to New York, gerry Conway and Roy Thomas succeeded Stan Lee as writer and editor, respectively, of The Amazing Spider-Man. Together with inker John Romita, Sr. they came to the decision to have Gwen Stacy killed off and she was just a nice person. The Green Goblin kidnaps and throws Gwen Stacy off the George Washington Bridge in The Amazing Spider-Man #121, both the decision to kill Gwen and the method in which Marvel implemented it remain controversial among fans because some believe that Peter himself was the one that caused her death. The death became a point in both Spider-Man’s history and in American comic books in general. Many point to Gwens death as the end of the Silver Age of Comics, before her death, except possibly as part of an origin story, superheroes did not fail so catastrophically, nor did the heros loved ones die so suddenly and without warning. In his book The Physics of Superheroes, physicist James Kakalios writes that, consistent with Newtons laws of motion, the comic book Civil War, Casualties of War, Captain America/Iron Man concurred that the proximate cause of death was the sudden stop during a high-speed fall. An issue of Peter Parker/Spider-Man revisits the issue, and further confirms Gwen died of a broken neck due to the use of the webbing, within the Marvel Comics, Gwen Stacys death has enormous repercussions. Mary Jane Watson feels the loss of Gwen deeply and becomes a more mature, Gwens death also draws Peter and Mary Jane into a closer friendship, and eventually to romance. Miles Warren, one of Gwens professors, was secretly in love with her, following her death, Warren goes insane and adopts the persona of the Jackal. In the fourth and final issue of the miniseries Marvels, photographer Phil Sheldon befriends Gwen Stacy, Gwens simple faith in heroes convinces Sheldon of the purpose of the Marvels —to protect innocents such as Gwen. He resolves to write a book to praise the heroes and what they should mean to humanity, when the Green Goblin kidnaps Gwen and holds her hostage to bait Spider-Man, Sheldon frantically follows the resulting chase in a taxi and witnesses her death
33.
Sony Pictures Imageworks
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Sony Pictures Imageworks, Inc. is a visual effects and character animation company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. SPI is a unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, SPI has provided visual effects for many films, most recent include Oz the Great and Powerful, The Amazing Spider-Man and Men in Black 3. They also provided services for several of director Robert Zemeckis films, including Contact, Cast Away, The Polar Express, Monster House, Sony Pictures Imageworks was formed in 1992 with five employees to use computers to help plan complicated scenes for live-action films. Located in the former TriStar building, their first work was a previsualization for a 1993 film Striking Distance, to fill the gaps between VFX jobs, SPI decided to partake in a more profitable animation business. Its first independent animated effort was the 5-minute short The ChubbChubbs, in 2002, it won the Oscar for Best Animated Short. Early Bloomer, released in 2003, was the second short film. SPI completed its first feature animation project in 2006 with the release of Open Season, in 2007, SPI acquired Indian visual effects studio FrameFlow to take advantage of lower labor costs. Renamed to Imageworks India, a facility was opened in Chennai a year later. To leverage New Mexicos tax rebates and talent base, a production facility was opened in 2007 in Albuquerque. In 2010, SPI opened a studio in Vancouver, British Columbia, in order to take advantage of the local talent pool. Two years later, the studio doubled its Vancouver facilities, at the same time, the Albuquerque studio was closed down due to declining New Mexicos subsidies and difficulty with attracting artist to move there. In the beginning of 2014, as part of Sonys cost-cutting move, by May 2014, entire headquarters and production had been moved to Vancouver, with only a small office remaining in Los Angeles. At the same time, SPI closed down its Indian studio, a year later, over 700 artists moved into a new 74, 000-square feet headquarters in Vancouver. They have achieved that with Arnold Renderer, an unbiased stochastic ray tracer, Arnold was used on projects such as Monster House, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,2012, Alice in Wonderland, The Smurfs, Arthur Christmas and is being used on all upcoming SPIs films. Sony Pictures Imageworks has provided visual effects and digital animation for the following films, Official website Sony Pictures Imageworks at the Internet Movie Database
34.
IMAX
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IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of cinema projection standards developed in Canada by Graeme Ferguson, Roman Kroitor, Robert Kerr, and William C. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size, since 2002, some feature films have been converted into IMAX format for displaying in IMAX theatres and some have also been partially shot in IMAX. IMAX is the most widely used system for special-venue film presentations, as of June 2016, there were 1,102 IMAX theatres in 69 countries. The desire to increase the impact of film has a long history. In 1929, Fox introduced Fox Grandeur, the first 70 mm film format, in the 1950s, the potential of 35 mm film to provide wider projected images was explored in the processes of CinemaScope and VistaVision, following multi-projector systems such as Cinerama. While impressive, Cinerama was difficult to install, during Expo 67 in Montreal, the National Film Board of Canadas In the Labyrinth and Fergusons Man and the Polar Regions both used multi-projector, multi-screen systems. Each encountered technical difficulties led them to found a company called Multiscreen. As it became clear that a single, large-screen image had more impact than multiple smaller ones and was a viable product direction. An IMAX 3D theatre also is in operation near the former Expo 67 site at the Montreal Science Centre in the Port of Old Montreal, tiger Child, the first IMAX film, was demonstrated at Expo 70 in Osaka, Japan. The first permanent IMAX installation was built at the Cinesphere theatre at Ontario Place in Toronto and it debuted in May 1971, showing the film North of Superior. The installation is still in place, however, Ontario Place is on hiatus for redevelopment, during Expo 74 in Spokane, Washington, an IMAX screen that measured 27 m ×20 m was featured in the US Pavilion. It became the first IMAX Theatre to not be partnered with any brand of movie theaters. About five million visitors viewed the screen, which covered the total visual field when looking directly forward. This created a sensation of motion in most viewers, and motion sickness in some, much to the dismay of the majority of Spokane and the disapproval of the IMAX Corporation itself, it will be demolished to make way for a parking lot. Another IMAX 3D theater was built in Spokane, not too far from where the original was. However, its screen-size is less than half that of the original, due to protests, the IMAX Corporation has been able to remodel the area with the city, and turn the U. S. Pavilion itself into the first permanent outdoor IMAX screen, the first permanent IMAX Dome installation, the Eugene Heikoff and Marilyn Jacobs Heikoff Dome Theatre at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, opened in San Diegos Balboa Park in 1973, the first permanent IMAX 3D theatre was built in Vancouver, British Columbia for Transitions at Expo 86, and was in use until September 30,2009
35.
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012 film)
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The Amazing Spider-Man is a 2012 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man, and sharing the title of the characters longest-running comic book of the same name. It is the fourth theatrical Spider-Man film produced by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Entertainment, the film was directed by Marc Webb. The film tells the story of Peter Parker, a teenager from New York who becomes Spider-Man after being bitten by a genetically altered spider, Parker must stop Dr. Curt Connors as a mutated lizard, from spreading a mutation serum to the citys human population. Development of the film began with the cancellation of Spider-Man 4 in 2010, during pre-production, the main characters were cast in 2010. New designs were introduced from the comics, such as artificial web-shooters, using Red Digital Cinema Camera Companys RED Epic camera, principal photography started in December 2010 in Los Angeles before moving to New York City. The film entered post-production in April 2011, 3ality Technica provided 3D image processing, and Sony Pictures Imageworks handled CGI. This was also the final American film to be scored by James Horner and released during his lifetime, Sony Pictures Entertainment built a promotional website, releasing many previews and launched a viral marketing campaign, among other moves. Tie-ins included a game by Beenox. The film premiered on June 30 in Tokyo, and was released in the United States on July 3 in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D and released in home media in November 2012. The film was a box office success, grossing over $757 million worldwide, becoming the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2012, the films sequel, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, was released on May 2,2014. This film included Marc Webb and most of the first film main cast who returned to their previous roles, a young Peter Parker discovers his father Richard Parkers study has been burgled. Peters parents gather hidden documents and take Peter to the home of his Aunt May, years later, a teenaged Peter attends Midtown Science High School, where he is bullied by Flash Thompson and has caught the eye of Gwen Stacy. At home, Peter finds his fathers papers and learns his father worked with fellow scientist Dr. Curt Connors at Oscorp, sneaking into Oscorp, Peter enters a lab where a biocable is under development from genetically modified spiders, one of which bites him. He later discovers he has developed spider-like abilities, such as sharp senses, reflexes, Connors is being pressed by his superior, Dr. Ratha, to devise a cure for the dying head of Oscorp, Norman Osborn. In school, Peter gets into trouble after a challenge with Flash in which Peter accidentally shatters the backboard glass. His uncle changes work shifts to meet with the principal and asks Peter to walk May home for him that night, Peter forgets to do so, distracted while at Oscorp helping Connors regenerate the limb of a laboratory mouse. At home, he and Ben argue and and Peter leaves, at a nearby deli, a cashier refuses to let Peter buy milk when Peter is two cents short, when a thief suddenly raids the store, Peter indifferently observes. While searching for Peter, Ben attempts to stop the thief and is killed, the thief escapes as Peter finds Ben dead on the sidewalk
36.
Broadway theatre
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Along with Londons West End theatres, Broadway theatres are widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. The Theater District is a popular tourist attraction in New York City, the great majority of Broadway shows are musicals. They presented Shakespeare plays and ballad operas such as The Beggars Opera, in 1752, William Hallam sent a company of twelve actors from Britain to the colonies with his brother Lewis as their manager. They established a theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia and opened with The Merchant of Venice, the company moved to New York in the summer of 1753, performing ballad operas and ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida. The Revolutionary War suspended theatre in New York, but thereafter theatre resumed in 1798, the Bowery Theatre opened in 1826, followed by others. Blackface minstrel shows, a distinctly American form of entertainment, became popular in the 1830s, by the 1840s, P. T. Barnum was operating an entertainment complex in lower Manhattan. In 1829, at Broadway and Prince Street, Niblos Garden opened, the 3, 000-seat theatre presented all sorts of musical and non-musical entertainments. In 1844, Palmos Opera House opened and presented opera for four seasons before bankruptcy led to its rebranding as a venue for plays under the name Burtons Theatre. The Astor Opera House opened in 1847, booth played the role for a famous 100 consecutive performances at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1865, and would later revive the role at his own Booths Theatre. Other renowned Shakespeareans who appeared in New York in this era were Henry Irving, Tommaso Salvini, Fanny Davenport, lydia Thompson came to America in 1868 heading a small theatrical troupe, adapting popular English burlesques for middle-class New York audiences. Thompsons troupe called the British Blondes, was the most popular entertainment in New York during the 1868–1869 theatrical season, the six-month tour ran for almost six extremely profitable years. Theatre in New York moved from downtown gradually to midtown beginning around 1850, in 1870, the heart of Broadway was in Union Square, and by the end of the century, many theatres were near Madison Square. Broadways first long-run musical was a 50-performance hit called The Elves in 1857, New York runs continued to lag far behind those in London, but Laura Keenes musical burletta The Seven Sisters shattered previous New York records with a run of 253 performances. It was at a performance by Keenes troupe of Our American Cousin in Washington, the production was a staggering five-and-a-half hours long, but despite its length, it ran for a record-breaking 474 performances. The same year, The Black Domino/Between You, Me and the Post was the first show to call itself a musical comedy, Tony Pastor opened the first vaudeville theatre one block east of Union Square in 1881, where Lillian Russell performed. Comedians Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart produced and starred in musicals on Broadway between 1878 and 1890, with book and lyrics by Harrigan and music by his father-in-law David Braham. They starred high quality singers, instead of the women of repute who had starred in earlier musical forms. Plays could run longer and still draw in the audiences, leading to better profits, as in England, during the latter half of the century, the theatre began to be cleaned up, with less prostitution hindering the attendance of the theatre by women
37.
Central Park
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Central Park is an urban park in Manhattan, New York City. Central Park is the most visited park in the United States, with 40 million visitors in 2013. The park was established in 1857 on 778 acres of city-owned land, construction began the same year and the parks first area was opened to the public in the winter of 1858. Construction continued during the American Civil War farther north, and was expanded to its current size of 843 acres in 1873, Central Park was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U. S. Department of the Interior in 1962. The Conservancy is a organization that contributes 75 percent of Central Parks $65 million annual budget and is responsible for all basic care of the 843-acre park. Between 1821 and 1855, New York City nearly quadrupled in population, as the city expanded northward up Manhattan, people were drawn to the few existing open spaces, mainly cemeteries, to get away from the noise and chaotic life in the city. Since Central Park was not part of the original Commissioners Plan of 1811, John Randel, Jr. surveyed the grounds. The only remaining surveying bolt from his survey is still visible, it is embedded in a rock just north of the present Dairy and the 65th Street Transverse, the bolt marks the location where West 65th Street would have intersected Sixth Avenue. The state appointed a Central Park Commission to oversee the development of the park, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux developed what came to be known as the Greensward Plan, which was selected as the winning design. The Greensward Plan called for some 36 bridges, all designed by Vaux, ranging from rugged spans of Manhattan schist or granite, to lacy Neo-Gothic cast iron, several influences came together in the design. Landscaped cemeteries, such as Mount Auburn and Green-Wood had set examples of idyllic, naturalistic landscapes, the most influential innovations in the Central Park design were the separate circulation systems for pedestrians, horseback riders, and pleasure vehicles. The crosstown commercial traffic was entirely concealed in sunken roadways, screened with densely planted shrub belts so as to maintain a rustic ambiance, before the construction of the park could start, the area had to be cleared of its inhabitants. Most lived in villages, such as Harsenville, the Piggery District, or Seneca Village, or in the school. Approximately 1,600 residents were evicted under the rule of eminent domain during 1857, Seneca Village and parts of the other communities were razed to make room for the park. During the parks construction, Olmsted fought constant battles with the park commissioners, between 1860 and 1873, most of the major hurdles to construction were overcome and the park was substantially completed. The work was documented with technical drawings and photographs. More gunpowder was used to clear the area than was used at the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War, the parks commissioners assigned a name to each of the original 18 gates in 1862. The names were chosen to represent the diversity of New York Citys trades, for example, Mariners Gate for the entrance at 85th Street
38.
Green Goblin
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The Green Goblin is the alias of several fictional supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first and best known incarnation is Norman Osborn, created by Stan Lee, the Green Goblin is a Halloween-themed supervillain whose weapons resemble bats, ghosts and jack-o-lanterns. The Green Goblin has appeared in films including 2002s Spider-Man as Norman Osborn. According to Steve Ditko, Stans synopsis for the Green Goblin had a crew, on location. Inside was an ancient, mythological demon, the Green Goblin, on my own, I changed Stans mythological demon into a human villain. The Green Goblin debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man #14, at this time his identity was unknown, but he proved popular and reappeared in later issues, which made a point of his secret identity. Lee elaborated, At some point we had to tell the reader who The Green Goblin really was, and Steve wanted him to turn out to be just some character that we had never seen before. Because, he said, in life, very often a villain turns out to be somebody that you never knew. And I felt that that would be wrong, I felt, in a sense, it would be like cheating the reader. If its somebody you didnt know and had never seen, then what was the point of following all the clues, I think that frustrates the reader. So that was a big argument we had, however, Ditkos account contradicts Lees, So I had to have some definite ideas, who he was, his profession and how he fit into the Spider-Man story world. I was even going to use an earlier, planted character associated with J. Jonah Jameson and it was like a subplot working its way until it was ready to play an active role. John Romita, Sr. who replaced Ditko as the titles artist, recalled, Stan wouldnt have been able to stand it if Ditko did the story, I didnt know there was any doubt about Osborn being the Goblin. I didnt know that Ditko had just been setting Osborn up as a straw dog, I just accepted the fact that it was going to be Norman Osborn when we plotted it. I had been following the last couple of issues and didnt think there was much mystery about it. Looking back, I doubt the Goblins identity would have revealed in Amazing #39 if Ditko had stayed on. In 2009, Ditko made a statement in his essay, The Ever Unwilling he wrote for the March issue of The Comics, Now digest this, I knew from Day One, from the first GG story, who the GG would be. I absolutely knew because I planted him in J. Jonah Jameson’s businessmans club, it was where JJJ and the GG could be seen together
39.
New York City Police Department
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The New York City Police Department, officially the City of New York Police Department, is the largest municipal police force in the United States. Established in 1845, the agency has primary responsibilities in law enforcement, the NYPD is one of the oldest police departments established in the U. S. tracing its roots back to the nineteenth century. According to the department, its mission is to enforce the laws, preserve the peace, reduce fear, the departments regulations are compiled in title 38 of the New York City Rules. In June 2004, there were about 40,000 sworn officers plus several thousand employees, in June 2005. As of December 2011, that figure increased slightly to over 36,600, the NYPDs current authorized uniformed strength is 34,450. The Patrolmens Benevolent Association of the City of New York, the largest municipal police union in the United States, represents over 50,000 active, the NYPD Intelligence Division & Counter-Terrorism Bureau has officers stationed in 11 cities internationally. In the 1990s the department developed a CompStat system of management which has also since established in other cities. The NYPD is headquartered at 1 Police Plaza, located on Park Row in Lower Manhattan across the street from City Hall, the NYPD has extensive crime scene investigation and laboratory resources, as well as units which assist with computer crime investigations. The NYPD runs a Real Time Crime Center, essentially a search engine. A Domain Awareness System, a joint project of Microsoft and the NYPD, links 6,000 closed-circuit television cameras, license plate readers, members of the NYPD are frequently referred to by politicians, some media and their own police cars by the nickname New Yorks Finest. The Municipal Police were established in 1845, replacing an old night watch system, in 1857, it was tumultuously replaced by a Metropolitan force, which consolidated many other local police departments in 1898. Twentieth-century trends included professionalization and struggles against corruption, Officers begin service with the rank of Probationary Police Officer, also referred to as Recruit Officer. After successful completion of six months of Police Academy training and various academic, physical, There are three career tracks in the NYPD, supervisory, investigative, and specialist. The supervisory track consists of 12 sworn titles, referred to as ranks, promotion to the ranks of sergeant, lieutenant, and captain are made via competitive civil service examinations. Promotion from the rank of police officer to detective is determined by the current police labor contract, the entry level appointment to detective is third grade or specialist. The commissioner may grant discretionary grades of first or second and these grades offer compensation roughly equivalent to that of supervisors. Specifically, a second grade detectives pay roughly corresponds to a sergeants, Detectives are police officers who have been given a more investigatory position but no official supervisory authority. A Detective First Grade still falls under the command of a sergeant or above, just like detectives, sergeants and lieutenants can receive pay grade increases within their respective ranks
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George Stacy
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George Stacy is a supporting character in Marvel Comicss Spider-Man series. He is Gwen Stacys father, and a supporter of Spider-Man often defending the superhero when others accuse. George Stacy first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #56, and was created by Stan Lee, John Romita, Sr. but even in retirement, Captain Stacy kept up with the happenings at the department - and had taken a keen interest in Spider-Man. After safely securing the weapon, Captain Stacy interviewed Peter, believed to have been held captive with Doc Ock, identifying himself as a strong supporter of Spider-Man, Captain Stacy wished to see the wall-crawler redeemed in the public eye. He also took an instant liking to Peter, and openly encouraged the growing bond between the youngster and his daughter Gwen, Stacy was compelled into a backroom where he underwent additional brainwashing by the cameras inventor, Dr. Winkler. Despite Spider-Mans efforts, George returned programmed to follow the Kingpins directions, as such, Captain Stacy later stole police records for the Kingpin while Spider-Mans automatic camera captured the theft. Peter gave the photos to J. Jonah Jameson, hopeful that this apparent betrayal of the Stacy family would actually help expedite a discovery of the captains innocence. While George and Gwen attempted to flee, they were kidnapped by the Kingpins men, the Kingpin intended to eliminate the Stacys once they were used to lure Spider-Man into his crushing hands. While Spider-Man battled the Kingpin, Osborn arrived and tackled the Kingpins henchmen holding the Stacys at gunpoint, though the Kingpin fled, and Winkler was apparently killed, the Stacys were rescued. Osborns testimony to the police exonerated Captain Stacy, Captain Stacy started to suspect Peter and Spider-Man were the same person. Called into action one night, Captain Stacy watched Spider-Man battle Doctor Octopus on a high above the city. A crowd had gathered nearby to watch the confrontation, as the two fought fiercely, chunks of concrete began to dislodge from the roof and rain on the spectators below. Spotting a child standing under the falling masonry, Captain Stacy leapt to shield the boy -, abandoning the assault, Spider-Man swung down in time to hear Captain Stacys final words, Be good to her, son. She loves you so very much, during the Dead No More, The Clone Conspiracy storyline, Jackal used a clone of George Stacy to convince the cloned Gwen Stacy to work with him as his business partner at New U Technologies. When Doctor Octopus pulls a switch which activates the Carrion Virus in all of the clones and causes them to start rapidly decaying, including George, George deteriorates in Gwens arms, he tells his daughter that keep Spider-Man safe while she can as the clone of George died. In Spider-Man,1602 Captain Stacey is the leader of the merchant vessel the May Flower, when he and his crew set sail for England, they allow Peter Parquagh to come on as a powder monkey. Though his crew turns on Peter when they discover his powers, they accept Peter when he rescues them from pirates Wilson Fiske and The Bulls Eye. In the timeline of the House of M storyline, George Stacy is a police chief
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Burglar (comics)
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The Burglar is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was unnamed in most of his appearances. He is best known as the first criminal faced by Spider-Man, the Burglar first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15, making him directly responsible for Ben Parkers death and Spider-Mans turn to superheroics. The Burglars name was never revealed in the comics, however, it remains unconfirmed whether this is the Burglars surname, as his daughter may be using her mothers maiden name, or that of her adoptive parents. The name Dennis Carradine has been used in a variety of media over the years and his last name also appeared on a list of known cat burglars in Marvels Ultimate Spider-Man series, but not been formally connected to the Burglar character in the Ultimate Marvel continuity. In the first Spider-Man film, the character is referred to only as a Carjacker. In the film Spider-Man 3, he reappears in a scene of Uncle Bens death. In the Spider-Man video game based on the first film, Dennis Carradine is the leader of a gang called the Skulls and calls himself Spike and he also appears in the reboot of the film franchise The Amazing Spider-Man. The origin story takes inspiration from the Ultimate comics where he robs a store, and the clerk tells Peter to help stop him, but Peter refuses. He reappears in the non-canonical The Amazing Spider-Man 2 video game, the Burglar first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15. Following the Burglars first one-off appearance, there have been multiple successors to the Burglar identity, in Marvel Comics Presents #49-50, Spider-Man battles a man who is explicitly described as having the same attire as the burglar who shot his Uncle Ben. At one point the man cryptically states, I owe for what he did to my brother, in Spider-Man #26, Spider-Man encounters another man in the Burglars attire, minus the pistol. It is heavily implied that this Burglars maternal uncle was the original Burglar, little of the Burglars early history is known, but it is mentioned that even in his younger years he was a criminal. Caught at some point in his life, the Burglar became the cellmate of elderly gangster Dutch Mallone. The Burglar learned from Dutch, who talked in his sleep, about a large possession of money the aged gangster had hidden in a suburban home, wanting to find out the location of the home where Mallones possession was, the Burglar successfully robs a television station for information. Peter Parker, who has become a celebrity as Spider-Man. Learning that the house where Mallones money had been hidden was the Parker house, fleeing the scene, the Burglar is chased by police to a warehouse where Spider-Man, wanting to avenge the death of his Uncle Ben, attacks and knocks out the Burglar. It is then that Spider-Man realizes that the man is the thief he had encountered earlier at the television station, years later, the Burglar, having served his time in prison, is released, despite being deemed mentally unstable by psychiatrists
