Maguire said filming for the new Spider-Man movie was two-thirds finished

"I'm really happy with it ... It's going to be better than the first one. The story is a lot better," he said Thursday during a press conference for his new film Seabiscuit in Los Angeles.

Maguire, who shot to fame last year playing the superhero, said filming on the sequel was about two-thirds complete.

The new film has Maguire's character, Peter Parker, enrolling as a university student. But two new villains, Dr Octopus and the Lizard, are bent on his destruction. The new film is due to be released in June 2004.

Rumours

The first Spider-Man, which also starred Kirsten Dunst and Willem Dafoe as the evil Green Goblin, has taken over $808m (�498m) around the world so far. In its first week in the US it made over �114m (�71.2m), a record at the time.

Earlier this year, rumours abounded that Maguire had been ruled out of the Spider-Man sequel because he had injured his back playing Johnny "Red" Pollard, the man who rode the famous 1930s racehorse Seabiscuit.

"It's not true that I was fired," the 28-year-old actor said, saying the back problem had been an ongoing ailment, and not a result of shooting Seabiscuit.

He said filming the Spider-Man sequel had been strenuous, and he had questioned himself over whether he was going to be fit enough to film it.