Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has dominated the box office and already earned more money worldwide in its first two weeks than the first film did in its entirety. Now, Sony has unveiled a new short film titled The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse follows Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) as he struggles with juggling the responsibility of being Spider-Man and his high school and family life. Miles jumps through a portal and journeys through different dimensions in the Spider-Verse. Fans have raved about the beautiful animation seen throughout the film. From Gwen's watercolor world, a Davinci parchment Vulture, a LEGO Spider-Verse, and the unique animation for Spider-Punk that took almost 3 years to complete.
The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story is a short film with horror elements, produced by Sony with a runtime of under 7 minutes. The film premiered at Annecy Film Festival this week and focuses on the anxiety that Miles (still voiced by Moore) feels trying to balance the many responsibilities in his life. As a result of his anxiety, audiences look into his subconscious. Jarelle Dampier, who directed the short film, told The Wrap he based elements of the story on the sleep paralysis he deals with.
This short film is also a part of Sony Pictures Imageworks' LENS (Leading and Empowering New Storytellers) program. The program’s goal is to “provide high-potential candidates from underrepresented groups an opportunity to gain valuable leadership experience.” As a part of this program, Dampier got the opportunity to pitch his story and make it into a short film. Dampier also said that although he did not work with the creators of the Spider-Verse feature films, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller loved the initial screening of the short film.
The Spider-Verse films have been widely acclaimed as some of the best animated and best Spider-Man movies ever. It is great that they are expanding and showing small stories in these films. This short film will probably tie in nicely with what was seen in the first act of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. However, fans looking to watch the short film will have to wait a while, as there has been no announcement on when or where it will be available.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now playing in theaters.
Source: The Wrap