Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is out in theaters now, and pretty much everyone agrees that it’s fantastic. Reviews are glowing and the box office is booming. It’s the most exciting superhero movie in quite a while.
It took a village to make the movie happen. Across the Spider-Verse had three directors: Joaquim Dos Santos (Avatar: The Last Airbender), Kemp Powers (One Night in Miami) and Justin K. Thompson (Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs). The movie smoothly transitions between different art styles as Miles Morales and Gwen Stacey travel to different dimensions, trying to stabilize the multiverse following the events of the first Spider-Verse film, 2018’s Into the Spider-Verse. Everyone involved worked hard to make this movie as good as possible, and it shows.
That said, the directors didn’t get to do everything they originally envisioned. Speaking to Variety, Powers talked about how they originally wanted to have “huge live-action sequences” in the film, but when they took a stab at it, things just didn’t work out. “[I]t just turned into a bad joke,” he said. “Even we didn’t like it anymore. And we just said, ‘OK, enough, let’s make sure that it’s something precise that gets the most bang for the buck, and speaks to the story.’”
There are a few live-action moments in the clip, including short clips from movies like Spider-Man (2002) and The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), as well as a brief appearance from Donald Glover as a live-action version of Miles’ uncle Aaron. We assume that the directors wanted to expand on those sections, but they didn’t elaborate on the specifics. Maybe they can do more in the sequel.
Beyond the Spider-Verse directors don’t know if final Spider-Verse film will come out on time
Speaking of which, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse is due out next year, although the directors aren’t sure it’ll make that date. Right now, they’re taking a well-earned beat to enjoy the success of Across the Spider-Verse, which ends on a cliffhanger with Miles in a dimension that doesn’t have a Spider-Person.
In this dimension, Miles Morales lost his father and turned to a life of crime, which opens up all kinds of possibilities for the third film. “It was really important to have this thing where Miles wants to save his dad, but then he’s faced with this Pottersville version of a world that was created because of this thing that happened to him,” Powers said. “It’s not going to be as simple as him wanting to just escape this world. He’s going to try to do right by people who he feels he’s done wrong by, and that just felt more potentially emotional and unpredictable as we go into the third film. It complicates his mission in a way that we hope people find unexpected and also thrilling.”
As of now, Beyond the Spider-Verse is set to debut in theaters on March 29, 2024. We’ll see if it makes that date. If Dos Santos, Powers and Thompson want to push it back a bit to make sure everything is perfect, I’d say they’ve earned the right.
Tom Holland: Into The Spider-Verse is “the best Spider-Man movie that’s ever been made”
Meanwhile, the Spider-Business is booming. The latest live-action version of the franchise with Tom Holland as Peter Parker is huge, with everyone wondering if he’ll return for a fourth film.
Holland recently told Variety that he’s been “having meetings” but that plans are on hold now in solidarity with the writers strike. “There’s been multiple conversations had, but at this point it’s very, very early stages,” he said.
If that fourth movie does happen, perhaps it will become Holland’s favorite Spider-Movie. Right now, that honor goes to Into The Spider-Verse, which he doesn’t even appear in. “I think the first ‘Spider-Verse’ movie is the best Spider-Man movie that’s ever been made,” Holland told the Associated Press while promoting his new Apple TV+ series The Crowded Room. “I’m so proud of everyone involved. [Producer] Amy Pascal is like my mom. I was supposed to go with her [to the premiere] as her date, I couldn’t go because I’m here working. But I’m incredibly proud of them, I’m excited for the second one. I’m sure it will live up to every expectation, and I can’t wait to see it.”
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