The latest update for the animated Spider-Verse films confirms that we’ll be getting some spinoffs to the saga!
The Sony “Spiderverse” infamously crashed and burned with critically ravaged flops like Morbius, Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter. However, Into the Spider-Verse remains a beloved film as fans adored watching Miles Morales meet Spider-champions of various alternate realities. It was a box office smash that also earned the Best Animated Feature Oscar.
The sequel, Across the Spider-Verse, came in 2023, but the final film, Beyond the Spider-Verse, has been delayed multiple times. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Kristine Belson and Damien de Forberville, the presidents of Sony Pictures Animation, provided an update that includes how original creators Phil Lord and Chris Miller remain a presence even when directing the movie Hail Mary.
Belson addressed how Lord and Miller’s famous tendency to keep rewriting movies all the way to the end of production is a challenge and they’ve needed to turn to someone else to help complete the project.
“We made some changes to the pipeline to, not avoid — because Chris and Phil are always going to iterate late — but to lessen the amount of iteration on the back end. We brought on a live-action DP, Alice Brooks. She’s been directing camera in a way that we hadn’t done on Spider-Verse before. We’re in animation on Spider-Verse now. Because the directors and Chris and Phil have a chance to iterate so much early on while we’re in story, and truly visualize what it’s going look like by the time those sequences flow into the Imageworks pipeline, there’s way less changes," De Froberville explained.
Belson added that "nobody has to work on a show they don’t want to work on. Even though you’ll hear — whether it’s Spider-Verse or other shows — that people go through these really difficult crunch times, everybody wants to be on the most ambitious and most exciting shows."
That’s good news for fans, with the conversation turning to the spinoff ideas!
It had been reported that Daniel Kaluuya and Ajon Singh were working on a film focused on Spider-Punk, the wild rock-themed Spider-Man Kaluuya had voiced in Across the Spider-Verse. There have also long been rumors of a solo movie based on Hailee Steinfeld’s Spider-Gwen, the Gwen Stacy of another world.
Belson stated that she’s not “allowed” to speak on having writers for those projects but “we are active on both.” She added that there is the challenge of having too many projects in the pipeline.
“In live-action, the ratio of development to production — it’s a much bigger difference. In animation, we’re so concept-oriented that once we’ve agreed with Tom Rothman and the marketing people, “this is a good idea for a movie,” it’s just a matter of time until we get it there. I would love to have a one-to-one ratio. It doesn’t work that way. We’re always trying to hit that.”
It has to be remembered animation is a far different beast than live-action. Many an animated movie has seen huge overhauls to production thanks to creative changes and for something as anticipated as Spider-Verse, that's even bigger.
The Spider-Verse will be expanding soon with Nicolas Cage reprising his role as Spider-Noir in a live-action TV series. As of now, Beyond the Spider-Verse is set to be released in 2027. It seems the long delay may be worth it to ensure the movie is the huge success fans want to be the shining light of Sony’s Spider-Verse brand.
Beyond the Spider-Verse scheduled to premiere in theaters on June 18, 2027.