and Spider-man 3: According to Variety, Sony will unspool Spider-Man 2 on June 30, two days earlier than originally planned, in a move aiming to maximize box office bang over the holiday-lengthened fireworks frame. Sony execs made the surprise announcement at a ShoWest session promoting the sequel to 2002's action blockbuster.

The studio also confirmed Wednesday its intent to lense a third installment in the comicbook-inspired series of pics. Execs at Marvel -- Sony's partner on the lucrative "Spider-Man" franchise -- had previously signaled plans for a second sequel.

Cast members of the Spider-Man pics were on hand for the Sony event, staged as part of the annual ShoWest convention for exhibs and distribs. Sony presented an extended clip of Spidey 2, which will open amid high hopes that the pic will match the outsized perf of its predecessor.

In other news, ShoWest in Las Vegas held some great insight into the Spider-man franchise yesterday as it unvelied news of a 3rd Spider-man heading for theaters on May 4th, 2007. Supderhero Hype was there to report...

Sony Pictures held a big Spider-Man 2 trailer event Wednesday night at the Paris Las Vegas hotel, where they revealed new updates, showed the trailer and an amazing 7-minute clip. Superhero Hype! reports that director Sam Raimi, producers Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin, and stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst were all in attendance as the studio showed the footage to exhibitors.

Sony announced at the event that the sequel has been moved up two days and will now be released on June 30, while a release date of May 4, 2007 has also already been set for Spider-Man 3. The new trailer that was shown will debut in theaters on April 9.

Movie Picture for a full rundown of the event!

Dont't forget to also check out: Spider-Man 2