Ryan Reynolds's movie Life reuses Spider-Man 3 footage and it's not the first movie to do it

I’m sure you probably never wanted to set eyes on Spider-Man 3 ever again. Unfortunately, if you’ve watched the trailer for Ryan Reynolds’ new movie Life then you’ve accidentally seen a clip from the third movie in Sam Raimi’s Spidey trilogy. Sorry about that.

Bizarrely, as eagle-eyed Redditor Toomuchsoul pointed out, Life re-uses a shot from about half an hour into Spider-Man 3 of onlookers recoiling in fear as the web-slinger rescues Gwen Stacy. A moment of silence for whatever intern had to rummage about in the archives for that.

That’s not the first time a movie has cannibalised another either. However, it’s worse: it’s normally seen in the finished product and not for half a second in a trailer. Hollywood is a cutthroat business, folks.

Transformers/Pearl Harbor

Michael Bay, surprisingly for a guy who loves throwing millions at CGI, took a shot from one of his old movies, Pearl Harbor, and put it smack bang in the middle of the first Transformers. This is the internet, Mikey, we see everything.

The Phantom Menace/Attack of the Clones

From one internet punching bag to another, George Lucas has committed many galaxy-sized no-nos in the original prequel – but how many caught him re-using a shot from The Phantom Menace in Attack of the Clones? Naughty, naughty.

Jurassic Park/Independence Day

It’s not just footage, either. Audio clips have been bastardised too, including Jeff Goldblum’s sultry tones of all things. Watch below for his “Must go faster” line in Jurassic Park being copy and pasted into a scene in Independence Day.

The Island/Transformers 3

We’ll end on, surprise, surprise, another Michael Bay recycle job. This time it’s the Transformers threequel and Bay’s The Island. You couldn’t get two more different movies other than the fact they both have a climactic car chase but, hey, that’s why Bay’s paid the big bucks.

Seen any more re-used footage? Let us know in the comments! 

Image: Columbia

Bradley Russell

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.