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

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" the costs certainly do rack up. The people at Sony shouldn't be too worried, however, since plenty of moviegoers are already buying tickets for the movie online. Here's hoping it's all worth it.

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures