‘Spider-Man 3’: The $500 Million Movie?

Highlights of Kim Masters’s Radar piece speculating that Spider-Man 3 might be the most expensive movie ever made:

Best vague blind sourcing: “Industry insiders claim that Sony spent $350 million or more on production alone.�

Best vague math: “With marketing and promotion factored in, the total price tag will approach half a billion dollars.�

Best actual evidence backing up price tag: Eight months of reshoots, expensive New York locations.

Best totally beside-the-point explanation of why Sony Pictures executives would dispute the speculation: “Still reeling from a flurry of bad press on its PlayStation 3 gaming console, Sony isn’t eager to claim this honor.�

Best anecdote from a lousy Sony romantic comedy offered up as evidence of studio’s profligacy: Unsatisfied with actual manor houses in England, The Holiday director Nancy Meyers had Sony build her one from scratch.

Best cavalier quote from a source who presumably was laughing when he said it: “An agent at CAA, which represents Raimi and Maguire, insists the film’s price tag is irrelevant: ‘Sony could spend $600 million or $700 million, and it would still be worth it.’�

The Most Expensive Movie Ever Made [Radar]