Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, the sequel to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, is scheduled to hit theaters in March 2024. However, one animator says it’s impossible.
Despite its success, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has been plagued by rumors of behind-the-scenes troubles. Reports of massive animator turnover, unrelenting hours, and last-minute changes have prompted producer Amy Pascal to deny the workplace toxicity claims. Pascal claims that animators weren’t prepared to work on a big-budget movie. Through all the rumors, Sony insists the next Spider-Verse movie will hit theaters in 2024. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse left multiple unanswered questions, so a quick release date for the sequel excites fans.
One animator, who prefers to remain anonymous, told Vulture a 2024 Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse release date is next to impossible. With the release date less than a year away, fans assume that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Beyond the Spider-Verse were worked on simultaneously, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. According to the anonymous animator, the production side of the third movie has barely started. Considering it took four years to finish Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the likelihood of an early 2024 release seems small.
If Sony hopes to get Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse to theaters on time, it can’t repeat the same mistakes made during the production of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Production management in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was reportedly disjointed, with directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson unable to sign off sequences without approval from Phil Lord. However, the most problematic issue Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse faced was changes made late in the animation process. These late changes often forced animators to work 11-hour days, seven days a week. Aside from exhausting the animators, it left no time to work on Spider-Man:Beyond the Spider-Verse.
Sony Pictures hasn’t changed the release date despite the rumored challenges Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse faces. Fans are still hopeful they won’t have to wait long to return to the Spider-Verse, but questions about the treatment of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse's crew still haunt the production and are likely to affect the actual release date.
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse is set to swing into theaters on March 29, 2024.
Source: Vulture