Everything You Wanted to Know about James Cameron’s Spider-Man Movie

By Sreejith Kamalanayanan 

I am a huge fan of the original Spider-Man franchise helmed by legendary horror maestro Sam Raimi. But little did I know that the idea for the Spider-verse was first born in the creative mind of Avatar director James Cameron. The Titanic director was not only the first one to pitch the idea to turn the Spiderman comic into a Hollywood feature, but he crafted a script treatment for the movie which is now known as the James Cameron’s Spider-Man Scriptment.

James Cameron’s Spiderman Scriptment never got made into a Hollywood movie, but some key elements of the treatment got into Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movie, which hit the screens in 2002.

Here is everything you need to know about Jame’s Cameron’s Spider-Man movie that was never made...

Cameron’s Spider-Man was pitched to Terminator 2 Makers

James Cameron had pitched his version of Spider-Man movie to Carolco, the company that produced his blockbuster film Terminator 2. This means we would have got to see James Cameron’s Spider-Man movie right after the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle. Carolco reportedly gave him a budget that was way too less than the Titanic director hoped for. Cameron’s Spider-Man cancelled apparently after the studio went bankrupt in 1995.

Stan Lee liked the Cameron Spider-Man Scriptment

The late legend Stan Lee who created Peter Parker / Spiderman had loved the treatment Cameron wrote for his the movie. Some sources say the Spider-Man scriptment was around 80-90 pages in length. Maybe it's our bad luck that they cancelled the Cameron Spider-Man project. But Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies starring Tobey Maguire have become classics and we still love them.

Leonardo Dicaprio as Peter Parker???

Rumour has it that Leonardo Dicaprio was attached to the project to play a key role. Though some sources say Cameron cast Dicaprio as Peter Parker, an article by Moviepilot says The Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star was cast as Harry Osborne. But these are only rumours.  Meanwhile, you can also check out an article from Screenrant where you can see a fan art image of Dicaprio donning the Spidey suit.

Raimi retained these elements from the Cameron script

Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movie has had an important role in revitalizing the superhero movies. It was this franchise that eventually paved the road for the success of MCU movies. But did you know that the first Spider-Man movie retained many elements that Cameron wrote for his version? Below is a list, check out:

Peter’s dream
Mary Jane as Peter’s crush
Uncle Ben’s death
Peter Parker showing his apathy towards an employer when the latter got robbed
Yes, these and some more elements that we saw in Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man had originally been there in Cameron’s script for Spider-Man. 

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Arnie as Doctor Octopus, Electro Main Villain

Arnold Schwarzenegger, who catapulted himself into International stardom with Cameron’s Terminator movies, was rumoured to play Doctor Octopus. I would love to see the campy interpretation the Total Recall star would have given to the role that was later played by the British talent Alfred Molina. Also, the unproduced movie might have featured Electro as the main villain. That's interesting, right?

End Credits

At the time when James Cameron was toying with the idea of the Spider-Man script, he had already tasted success with Terminator and Terminator 2 movies. Leonardo Dicaprio was yet to become a big star. Arnold Schwarzenegger had already become a household name with his pumped-up physique, and the infamous Austrian accent that he proudly displayed in the first two Terminator movies.

It is interesting to imagine now how the movie would have turned out if Cameron directed the Spider-Man movie or Leo played Peter Parker. A combination of Leo, Cameron, and Arnie would have proved to be a ’fist full of dynamite’ for the fans. However, things took a different turn: Leo went aboard a luxurious cruise ship called Titanic and froze to death in 1997; Cameron continued to break box office records with his series of blockbusters, and Arnie became California Governor.

This is not an isolated thing in Hollywood as there are umpteen legends about unproduced great movies. And most famous of them is Alejandro Jodorowsky’s cancelled project Dune. The story behind Jodorowsky’s failed efforts to turn Frank Herbert’s Dune into an epic movie has become a celebrated legend and fans call it the ’Greatest Movie Never Made’. James Cameron’s Spider-Man rightly belongs to the archives of some of the greatest movies never made!!!

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