LOS ANGELES, Feb 7, (Agencies): Sony Pictures on Monday unveiled a first look at the upcoming reboot of the “Spider-Man” movie franchise, and the action-packed thriller has at least one person in the audience shaking in his Spidey suit — the man who plays him, Andrew Garfield. “I’m terrified right now,” Garfield told an audience at a New York City movie multiplex in a presentation that was one of four similar events happening simultaneously in New York, Los Angeles, London and Rio de Janeiro.
Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans and director Marc Webb were on hand in other locations to speak briefly about the movie.

In New York, Garfield told the audience that taking on the role of the teenage crime fighter and comic book superhero was daunting because of the responsibility for portraying a characer who is beloved by so many people. “This is so overwhelming to be representing this symbol because that’s all I am, the guy in the suit. And before, it was Tobey (Maguire),” he said before joking, “Next time hopefully it will be a half-Hispanic/half African-American actor.” Garfield, 28, is known for his supporting role as Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg’s best friend in “The Social Network.” But “Spider-Man” may be his biggest Hollywood break yet. The original ‘Spider-Man’ movie trilogy launched Tobey Maguire to stardom and earned $1.1 billion at domestic box offices. The new movie, “The Amazing Spider-Man,” hits movie screens on July 3, and will hope to beat that stellar run.

Newcomer
For the reboot, veteran director Sam Raimi turned over the franchise reins to Marc Webb, a newcomer to the genre having previously directed indie romantic comedy, “500 Days of Summer.” In “Amazing Spider-Man,” Parker goes searching for the reason his parents disappeared when he was a child. His pursuit brings him face to face with his dad’s old partner, Dr Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) who transforms into the villainous Lizard. Peter Parker also gets a new love interest named Gwen Stacy, who essentially takes the romance duties given to Kirsten Dunst as the character Mary Jane Watson in the previous films.
Speaking from Rio de Janeiro, Stone called Gwen the yin to Mary Jane’s yang. “Gwen falls in love with Peter Parker, and I think Mary Jane falls in love with Spider-Man,” said Stone.
“The Amazing Spider-Man” dropped in on hundreds of fans Monday.

Sony Pictures teased the latest incarnation of the web-slinging superhero, which doesn’t arrive in US theaters until July 3, at preview events held Monday at movie theaters in 13 cities spanning the globe, including Mexico City, Berlin, Rome, Paris and Moscow, with the cast and filmmakers appearing in Los Angeles, New York, Rio de Janeiro and London. The event began with the debut of the 3-D full-length “Amazing Spider-Man” trailer, which will hit theaters this weekend and debut online Wednesday. The trailer featured footage of Andrew Garfield as a charmingly awkward Peter Parker being bullied at school, testing out his new web-slinging gadgets and battling the villainous Lizard high above New York. “I think there are a lot of things from the Spider-Man canon that haven’t yet been explored cinematically,” said director Marc Webb in Los Angeles.

Stone, who plays love interest Gwen Stacey, told fans in Rio de Janeiro that Stacey and Mary Jane Watson, Parker’s girlfriend portrayed by Kirsten Dunst in the previous films, are “polar opposites,” while Rhys Ifans said in London that his character, Dr. Curt Connors, who becomes the Lizard, has “a very complex and emotional” link to Parker. After the cast addressed fans, Webb unveiled extended 2-D footage from the film peppered with music from the Rolling Stones and Coldplay. The scenes included Parker asking Stacey out on a date, Spider-Man humorously blasting a car thief with webs and the one-armed Dr. Connors telling Parker that “your father and I were going to change the lives of millions.”