Spider Man Spins a Crafty Promotional Web

Among the many movie studios and fan sites harnessing the power of the Internet to promote movie releases, Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment (SPDE) stepped up to the plate today with a state-of-the-art streaming trailer for “Spider Man,” intended to wet the appetites of new and old fans of the web-slinging superhero’s leap to celluloid glory.

SPDE is the digital production arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment and its Tokyo-based parent Sony Corporation .

Based on the 1963 Marvel Comics’ character Peter Parker, an orphaned boy who is bitten in a school science class by a genetically altered spider and assumes superhuman strength, an arachnid-like skill for spinning webs, and a yen for law enforcement, SPDE has gone full tilt to promote the film’s May release through a specially designated Web site and a barrage of promotional content that should satisfy even the most avid Spider Man fans.

The site features numerous publicity angles covering the film’s production, content, and original storyline, in addition to interviews with the film’s stars Toby Maguire, Willem Dafoe, and Kirsten Dunst, behind-the-scenes information, streaming video of an all-cast press conference highlights, sweepstakes for a shot at attending the film’s Hollywood premiere, and an option for registering as an official member of the Spider Man network for even more exclusive content not available to the average fan. There is even a chance to get up-close-and-personal with Steve Kutcher, the film’s on-set spider wrangler.

But SPDE’s main selling point is today’s exclusive online debut of the film’s most recent full-length trailer of the famous spider boy swinging from building to building with his crafty webshooters as he patrols the city for heathens and criminals.

The trailer will only be available to online Spider Man fans and will be the last trailer released before the movie opens.

“By placing this trailer exclusively online, we are giving fans everywhere an opportunity to get caught in Spider Man’s world wide web,” said Geoffrey Ammer, president of marketing for Columbia TriStar Marketing Group. “This Internet exclusive is also our way of saying ‘thank you’ to the online community that has so enthusiastically followed and supported the development and production of “Spider Man” over the past several years.”

Spider Man fans can also view snippets of the film in a shorter “teaser” form, or a 30-second television preview.

Slated for a May release, “Spider Man” is directed by Sam Rami and adapted for screen by David Koepp, scribe of “Jurassic Park” and “Stir of Echoes.”