Minor spoilers ahead if you have not watched Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Like its beloved predecessor, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was filled with beautiful animation. Some of the animated scenes were unique to each Spider-Person, and one short scene was animated by a 14-year-old named Preston Mutanga.
On May 24th, Mutanga went viral when he made a video recreating the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailer in LEGO animation. Originally posted on YouTube in early January of this year, the video was so popular that it got the attention of the Spider-Verse film creators. Phil Lord, who wrote Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and co-directed The LEGO Movie, tweeted at the 14-year-old saying, “My man you have outdone yourself.” Christopher Miller, who collaborated with Lord to write Across the Spider-Verse, retweeted the 14-year-old's work. One fan commented, “This is amazing, dude, I can actually imagine your work in a real LEGO movie”. That fan wasn’t too far off.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which debuted this weekend and has been a box office hit, included a short scene early on in the movie where the antagonist, Jason Schwartzman's The Spot, was hopping to different dimensions, including one made up of LEGOs. At first, The Spot quickly appears, breaks The Daily Bugle, then leaves. Shortly after, audiences return to the LEGO Dimension, where they get a longer scene of LEGO Peter Parker reporting back to Miguel O'Hara, a.k.a. Spider-Man 2099. Mutanga animated these LEGO scenes.
Some fans noticed his name in the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse credits and reached out on Twitter to confirm. One fan asked, “Wait, did you actually animate the Lego world in the movie?” Muntanga replied with a “Yes” and a GIF from The LEGO Batman Movie. Muntanga was also at the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse premiere. Jake Johnson, who voices Peter B. Parker, mentioned the LEGO scene in an interview with Fandango, saying, "Everything in this movie, the animation is so wild. It's pushing so many boundaries that at times I'm like, 'What are they doing now?' Like the LEGO world was really neat, remember where it jumps into a LEGO universe for a little bit?"
It is amazing to see someone so young and talented get this opportunity. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has the potential for future award nominations like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and a very talented 14-year-old was able to be a part of it. Hopefully, fans will see more from Mutanga in the sequel, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, which will be released in March 2024, or maybe a LEGO movie in the future.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now playing in theaters.
Source: GamesRadar, Fandango