Cannon Films - who no longer exist - were a very prominent movie studio in the 1980s. They began life as a small film distributor in the late 1960s and were purchased in 1979 by cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. The pair had a very strange vision in which they would purchase scripts galore for a small price and make loads of low-budget movies with the view that, even if seven out of ten of them failed, the three that succeeded would make enough money to pay for all of the others. One of the things they purchased was the rights to Spider-Man. However, not knowing anything about the source material, they were going to have Tobe Hooper (of Texas Chainsaw Massacre fame) directing and the story was going to be that a mad, corporate scientist named Dr. Zork intentionally exposed Peter Parker to radiation which turned him into a human tarantula. The conflict would then come from the now eight-armed Parkers refusal to join Zorks army of additional mutant monsters. Thankfully, Stan Lee himself put a stop to it, realising how ridiculous would be. There have been also been a number of other potential Spider-Man movies that were almost made, such as Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4, a musical movie in the 1970s, James Cameron's Spider-Man (who was going to be a total jerk) and a 1980s low-budget offering from Roger Corman. However, the potential Cannon movie is certainly the most eye-catching and weird.
