More than 2,000 Boston University students gathered Friday on the BU Beach to watch a free showing of last summer’s blockbuster film, “Spiderman”. The event, partially funded by the BU Student Undergraduate Fee, saw possibly the highest student turnout in the event’s history.

“This is more people so far, I think, than ‘Shrek,'” said Programming Council Advertising and Public Relations Chair Meredith Beard, referring to the movie the Programming Council put on last September.

“A lot of resident assistants use this as their first floor event, plus, because of the tradition, we knew we could get a good turnout, so we didn’t do anything else,” Beard said.

Beard, a College of Arts and Sciences junior, helped give out free cotton candy during the event. A line for the free cotton candy and popcorn wrapped around Marsh Plaza.

Just before the movie began, Union president Ethan Clay took the microphone and urged the students to “wake up those colleges across the river” during the kiss scene of Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.

Standing nearby, School of Hospitality Administration sophomore Jason Weingarten mingled with friends before the show.

“It’s a good night for students to get to know each other, meet some girls, just have a good time,” Weingarten said.

CAS freshman Kim Pelta watched the movie while placing her blanket on the brick sidewalk.

“We chose to sit on the sidewalk because there wasn’t any more [seating] on the grass, and it’s a good view,” Pelta said.

A cluster of students managed to sit atop the modern art structure near the staircase. One of the viewers atop of the structure creatively used his vertical advantage to pour a bottle of water over the heads of those on the ground.

Many students said they were just happy to attend a free event close to campus.

College of Engineering sophomore Michael Hamilton said he was planning to use it as a precursor to events that would happen later in the night.

“It’s something to do until 10 o’clock,” Hamilton said.

According to Programming Council Chairman Brad Morganstern, the event, which is part of the BUnited program, will be biannual beginning this year.

Morganstern appeared modest in taking credit for the event.

“It’s definitely not me, I have a great board, they are really supportive,” Morganstern said. “They’re the ones that do all of the work.

“What [Programming Council is] here to do is to get a good campus spirit,” Morganstern said. “That’s what this is all about.”