Why Tim Burton Didn't Direct Spider-Man 2002
Spider-Man screenwriter David Koepp has revealed why Tim Burton did not helm the popular 2002 superhero movie. Spider-Man, helmed by iconic horror director Sam Raimi, changed the superhero movie landscape at the time of its release. Today, it's hard to imagine a world where superhero movies aren't dominating every cinema, but coming out of the '90s, superhero films were a struggling genre. However, with the release of Spider-Man, Raimi and his team proved that superhero movies could be an epic adventure for all audiences, as it utilized performances from top tier actors such as Tobey Maguire and Willem Dafoe, as well as groundbreaking CGI that brought the web-slinger to life in a way that hadn't been seen on screen before. Between the film's release and 2007, Spider-Man received two sequels, and the cinematic golden age of superheroes began.
While it is hard to imagine the Spider-Man trilogy without Raimi at the helm, he was not actually the first director considered for the job. Among the other potential directors were David Fincher, Chris Columbus, and even Burton. Burton, of course, would have made quite a bit of sense at the time. He was the mind behind the incredibly successful Batman adaptation from 1989 and its sequel Batman Returns. After Burton left the series and director Joel Schumacher took over, Batman became another superhero who fell victim to the '90s. During this time, Burton was in the process of putting together a Superman film which would have starred Nicolas Cage, though this movie eventually fell through, leaving Burton open to direct Spider-Man.
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In a recent interview with Variety to celebrate Spider-Man's twentieth
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