It's obvious that Spider-Man 3 [0] has cost a pretty penny. The oft-quoted price tag is $250 million [1], yet a piece in Radar magazine has us wondering if it's actually more like twice that much [2].

Reporter Kim Masters writes:

With marketing and promotion factored in, the total price tag will approach half a billion dollars—positioning Spider-Man 3 as the most expensive movie of all time.

A studio spokesman angrily rejects the $350 million estimate as a "complete fabrication," insisting that production costs didn't exceed $270 million. One of the film's producers, Laura Ziskin, also disputes the higher total... "I refuse to say the [real] number because it makes me choke," she tells Radar. "Spider-Man 3 was a super-expensive movie—the most expensive film we've ever made. But there's no way you can get to $300 million."

Well, when you count all the many ways Spider-Man 3 is taking over New York during "Spider-Man Week in NYC" [2] the costs certainly do rack up. The people at Sony shouldn't be too worried, however, since plenty of moviegoers are already buying tickets [3] for the movie online. Here's hoping it's all worth it.

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures [4]