KATHMANDU, Dec 22: Sajal Lopchan, 28, a freelance filmmaker, and his friends decided to go to watch Spiderman: No Way Home on December 17, all dressed up as the characters in the movie. He himself cosplayed as Tom Holland's spiderman whereas his team members Ronish Raut, Jason Lopchan, Bimesh Shrestha, Bishal Dhakal, Tosit Ghatane and Biplov Gauli cosplayed as Tobey Maguire’s spiderman, Andrew Garfield’s spiderman, Tom Holland’s spiderman (Black suit), Doctor Strange and J Jonah Jameson and Doctor Octopus, respectively.

The third film in the Homecoming trilogy, Spiderman: No Way Home, sets after Spiderman’s identity as Peter Parker gets revealed to the world and he asks Doctor Strange for help. But the spell of Doctor Strange goes awry, Peter is forced to learn what it means to be spiderman against frightening opponents from other planets.

According to Lopchan, he was very hyped up about the movie as every other marvel fan was. “It was a spiderman movie and that alone was enough to create an excitement,” he said.

“After so many rumors and leaks, we thought it would be cool to go in as different characters. Much later, after we had booked the tickets, few of our friends decided to join in with us in the cosplay,” Lopchan said.  “So, I kinda looked up easy tutorials for Doctor Octopus arms and decided to build one. It turned out okay-ish. Another one of our friends, Tosit Ghatane, also got hyped up about us cosplaying and then decided to dye the sides of his hair to cosplay J Jonah Jameson.”

Since its release on December 17, fans from across the world have gone crazy over ‘Spiderman: No Way Home’. The movie starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, William Dafoe, Alfred Molina and various other casts has been rated 9/10 in IMDb and has received 99 percent audience score and 94 percent critics score in Rotten Tomatoes.

The movie has already broken the box office record in a single weekend more than any other pandemic-era film has ever made over the course of its theatrical run. The John Watts-directed movie has brought its global total to USD  $638.1 million (as of December 22) against a USD 200 million production budget.

Similarly, Saphal Baidya, 25, a filmmaker, had been eagerly waiting for the movie. “I was 1000000% hyped about the movie and had very high expectations. When I watched the movie, a splash of nostalgia felt fresh and it exceeded my expectations,” he said.

Likewise, Aadarsh Chaulagain, a 19-year old student said that he was filled with tears when he walked out of the hall after watching the movie. “The movie was much more than I had expected. The movie gives a huge character development to Tom Holland’ Spiderman,” he said. “Last time he was hyped about any movie was Avengers: Endgame.”

Spider-Man: No Way Home became a talk of the town even before its release. The fans from all over the world including Nepal had been desperately waiting for the movie to get released and now that they have seen it, they have not been able to gossip about the movie.

According to Jenish Pahari, Executive Director of Apple Entertainment, the movie collected more than Rs 20 million in just two days of its release in Nepal. “The movie has surpassed not only the record of Avengers: Endgame but the record of Hollywood movies as a whole,” she said. Likewise, the cinema halls were housefull for Spiderman: No Way Home, according to Roshan Adiga, CEO, QFX Cinemas.

Spiderman has been one of the most popular comic book characters of all time. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962) in the Silver Age of Comic Books.

“I fell in love with the character because of how relatable he was. He was a student juggling his life between being a hero and being a normal guy. The story was not just focused on the actions of Spiderman but also equally on Peter Parker's life as a nephew, as a student, as a friend, as a romantic interest,” said Sajal Lopchan.

“While I was no hero, I was a student back then so I guess that is what made me feel like I was looking at myself on the screen. The popular phrase “`With Great power comes great responsibility”, would probably be the most apt way to describe who Spiderman is to me and perhaps to a lot of Spiderman fans out there,” he added.

It is obvious that the movie has become a cinematic masterpiece for people who have grown up watching Spiderman’s Trilogy directed by Sam Raimi, The Amazing Spiderman 1 and 2 as well as Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)’s spiderman. The movie is not just a movie but a rollercoaster ride of emotions to the people.