Kellogg’s
The comic book movie
revolution from campy novelty to summer blockbuster may have quietly begun four
years prior with Blade
and later X-Men,
but with 2002’s Spider-Man
it was in full (pardon the pun) swing.
Written by David Koepp
and directed by Sam Raimi, Spider-Man
presented a slightly modified origin for the titular
character (Tobey Maguire)
and his arch-nemesis, the Green
Goblin (Willem Dafoe),
as fate and circumstances brought the two to a head in a climactic battle.
Released by Sony Pictures on May 3,
2002, it became an instant hit. It was the first film to pass $100 million in
its opening weekend and the fastest to surpass that mark. By the end of its
run, it had grossed $821.7 million.
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| The back and side of the Spider-Man cereal box. |
That September, Kellogg’s announced its partnership with Marvel Comics and Sony Pictures to release
Spidey-themed food items, including a cereal (which they mistakenly touted as
the first, ignoring Ralston’s
1994 offering). The limited-edition Spider-Man cereal featured
“web”-shaped cereal pieces with artificial berry flavoring. While some of the
webs were naturally colored, others alternated between red and blue coloring.
Adorning the boxes was a foil-stamped logo and eyes in Spidey’s mask on the
front, a story on the back with some stock drawings of Spidey in various poses,
and a trivia game related to the story on the side panel. Later, when the film
was released onto home video, the boxes came with a small blurb advertising it
and a picture of the DVD set.
As part of their
promotional campaign, other cereals in the Kellogg’s line came with premiums
related to the film. Amongst them were glow-in-the-dark stickers, temporary
tattoos, and a web-shooter
water squirter. They also teamed-up with America’s
Dairy Farmers to offer a send-away promotion for a free Spidey CD-ROM game
(which was essentially the 2000 Spider-Man video
game with the character model altered to resemble the film’s suit and other
minor tweaks).
After such a
successful film, there was no doubt that a sequel was in order. Spider-Man
2, written by Alvin Sargent,
introduced Doctor
Octopus (Alfred
Molina); a scientist who became bonded to four-mechanical arms he invented
to aid in his scientific experiments and became mad with a desire to see his
experiment through at the risk of the city. Released on June 30, 2004, the film
was as well-received as the first and shattered its opening day record.
However, it ended up grossing about $40 million less with a total of $783.8
million.
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| The back of the Spider-Man 2 box. |
Kellogg’s was once again on board and re-released
their Spider-Man cereal. The cereal was essentially the same, except it
came in a new yellow orange box with Spidey in a new pose, and only on the back
was the Spider-Man 2 title present. For a time, the foil-stamped logo
and eyes also made a return before being replaced with standard art later in
its run (excluding the international box, which had no foil and came with a blue background). The back of the box this time was adorned with several Spidey-themed
games, including a trivia game, crossword puzzle, a maze, a match game, a
hidden item search, and a word scramble. This time, tie-in premiums included
web-shooter-like laser pointers that projected one of four different designs.
The Raimi film series would gain one more
less-welcomed entry in Spider-Man 3, but it was General Mills who made a cereal for
that one. Ultimately, Marvel and Sony decided to scrap Raimi’s proposed Spider-Man
4 in favor of rebooting the franchise with a new direction and a new cast.
Written by James Vanderbilt
and directed by Marc Webb, The
Amazing Spider-Man took Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) back to high
school as he explored a mystery involving his parents, which took him to Oscorp
where, like in the original films, he was bitten by a genetically modified
spider and gained his powers. Meanwhile, Dr. Curt Connors
(Rhys Ifans) had transformed
himself into the monstrous Lizard in an attempt to stop his former boss (Irrfan Khan) from using ins
imperfect serum on unknowing test subjects. Ultimately, that led to his wanting
to transform all of New York into lizard people like him and forcing Spidey to
stop him.
 |
| The Amazing Spider-Man cereal back. |
The film was released on July 3, 2012 to generally
favorable reviews. Like the Raimi series, it managed to pull in a box office of
$757.9 million; becoming the 7th-highest grossing film of the year. As
part of the film’s promotion, Kellogg’s also rebooted their Spider-Man cereal
as The Amazing Spider-Man cereal. This time, the web pieces were all
colored red and two-toned green marshmallows were added to represent the
Lizard’s face. The back of the box featured a word, trivia and maze game.
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