Spider-Man 3 is a 2007 American superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. It was directed by Sam Raimi from a screenplay by Raimi, his older brother Ivan and Alvin Sargent. It is the third and final installment in Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. The film stars Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, alongside Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, James Cromwell, Rosemary Harris and J. K. Simmons.

Set shortly after the events of Spider-Man 2, as Peter Parker prepares his future with Mary Jane Watson, he bonds with an extraterrestrial symbiote, bringing out his anger while facing three villains: Uncle Ben‘s true killer, Flint Marko, who becomes the Sandman after a freak accident; Harry Osborn, who seeks to avenge his father; and Eddie Brock, a rival photographer who becomes Venom after acquiring Peter’s symbiote.

Development of Spider-Man 3 began immediately after the release of Spider-Man 2 for a 2007 release. During pre-production, Raimi originally wanted another villain to be included along with Sandman. At the request of producer Avi Arad, he added Venom and the producers also requested the addition of Gwen Stacy. 

Principal photography for the film began in January 2006, and took place in Los Angeles and Cleveland before moving to New York City from May until July 2006. Additional pick-up shots were made after August and the film wrapped in October 2006. During post-production, Sony Pictures Imageworks created over 900 visual effects shots. With an estimated production budget of $258 million, it was the most expensive film ever made at the time of its release.

Spider-Man 3 premiered on April 16, 2007, in Tokyo, and was released in the United States in both conventional and IMAX theaters on May 4, 2007. The film grossed $890.9 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of the trilogy, the third-highest-grossing film of 2007 and was the highest-grossing Spider-Man film until it was surpassed by Spider-Man: Far From Home in 2019.

Unlike the previous installments, Spider-Man 3 received a mixed reception from critics, who praised the performances, visual effects and action sequences, but criticized the overloaded storylines and subplots and overabundance of villains. The majority of these issues were later attributed to studio interferences and creative differences between Sony, Raimi and Arad.

A fourth installment, titled Spider-Man 4, was set to be released on May 6, 2011, followed by a Venom spin-off film, but both were cancelled due to Raimi’s withdrawal over creative differences with the writers and producers. The Spider-Man film series was rebooted twice; first with The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) by Marc Webb and starring Andrew Garfield; and later a new film series set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, directed by Jon Watts and starring Tom Holland, beginning with Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017). The Venom spin-off was revived in 2016 by Sony and was finally released in 2018 with Venom, set within Sony’s Marvel Universe directed by Ruben Fleischer.