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. Based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name, it is the second installment in the Spider-Man trilogy and the sequel to Spider-Man (2002), starring Tobey Maguire alongside Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfred Molina, Rosemary Harris, and Donna Murphy. Set two years after the events of Spider-Man, the film finds Peter Parker struggling to manage both his personal life and his duties as Spider-Man, which affects his civilian life dramatically. Meanwhile, Dr. Otto Octavius becomes a diabolical villain after a failed experiment kills his wife and leaves him neurologically fused to mechanical tentacles. Spider-Man must stop him from successfully recreating the dangerous experiment, while dealing with a subconscious desire to stop being Spider-Man that is stripping him of his powers. Raimi's inspiration for the film came from the comic book debut of Doctor Octopus in 1964, the 1966 story arc If This Be My Destiny...!, and the 1967 story arc Spider-Man No More! Principal photography began in April 2003 in New York City and also took place in Los Angeles. Reshoots took place later that year and concluded in December. Spider-Man 2 was released in both conventional and IMAX theaters on June 30, 2004. It received widespread critical acclaim and grossed $789 million worldwide, making it the third highest-grossing film of the year. The film won Best Visual Effects at the 77th Academy Awards, and was also nominated for Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing; furthermore, it received five awards at the Saturn Awards, including Best Fantasy Film and Best Director for Raimi. Considered one of the best and most influential superhero films of all time,[5][6][7][8][9] its success led to Spider-Man 3 (2007). In 2021, it was announced that Molina would return as Doc Ock in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) which is part of the second Spider-Man reboot series directed by Jon Watts, with Molina later clarifying in April that it will be the same iteration as depicted in this film. [10]