Peter Parker goes to Tokyo.

Spider-Man 3 has premiered in Tokyo, and Sophie Hardach files a longish report for Reuters, setting the scene (Kirsten Dunst and Tobey Maguire "were greeted with screams of 'kawaii' ('cute') by hundreds of young Japanese") and collecting initial reactions. If you've seen the trailer, the news that this one's rather dark won't come as a surprise. The two critics Hardach talks to have positive things to say, one of them noting that the film is "left wide open for another one."

Updated through 4/20.

Next: "The movie's makers travel to London on April 23 and then Rome, Berlin, Madrid, Moscow, Stockholm and New York." The for-real opening is May 1 for Japan and May 4 for everybody else. More from the BBC, and just noted earlier in the entry below: Sheigh Crabtree's very fine backgrounder for the Los Angeles Times.

Update: Cinematical's Erik Davis has spotted more reviews and Brendon Connelly hears good things.

Update, 4/17: Bruce Wallace in the Los Angeles Times on what the movie means for Sony.

Updates, 4/18: Scott Weinberg at Cinematical on Spider-Man 2.1: "[T]he eight extra minutes of 'new' footage does a lot for the flick."

And Brendon Connelly has rounded up some "Spidey-Stuff."

Updates, 4/20: Leo Lewis caught the film in Tokyo and, in the London Times, calls it "a daft, highly polished couple of hours of fantasy fun. There is not enough of the super-villains and they are not nearly twisted enough. But then there never is and they never are.... And for reminders that Japan, the home of manga comics, is an increasingly powerful influence on Hollywood directors there is an unmistakable homage to the anime classic Akira."

John Hiscock talks with Maguire for the Telegraph.

Charlotte O'Sullivan in the Evening Standard: "The good news is that this pacey, rainbow-coloured blockbuster works both as a filler and a finale. It's easily the best of the trilogy and, for my money, one of the most enjoyable films of the decade."

Over at Cinematical, Chris Ullrich has found a few clips.

Posted by dwhudson at April 16, 2007 7:32 AM