With yet another absolute banger of a film under their belt with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, many are wondering when its producers will be announcing the next film in the trilogy, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spiderverse. The former has crushed it at the box office, with the film becoming one of the highest-rated of the year so far, but there could be some delays before we enter the Spider-Verse once more.
Beyond the Spider-Verse was originally set to be released in the spring of next year, but when certain rumors that the film became a toxic work environment began circling, it left many wondering if that release date was a realistic one. In an article written by Vulture, staff discussed how far they were pushed to produce the visuals for this film, reported to have worked 11 hours a day, seven days a week for an entire year due to delays.
Because of said working conditions, animators are saying that there is no way they are going to get the third film out by spring of 2024. When the question of a delayed date was brought up to Lord and his co-producer Chris Miller during a video chat with Comicbook, Lord responded, “I would say that just like we’re going to take the time necessary to make Beyond the Spider-Verse great,” with Miller following up with, “And we won’t back into a release date that doesn’t fit.”
Lord, of course, did not come out looking so good in the wake of the aforementioned rumors (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The Lego Movie), as his process was said to have been erratic and unrealistic. One artist who had been working on the project, spoke to the publication anonymously, saying, “Over 100 people left the project because they couldn’t take it anymore,” discussing how Lord constantly kept changing things, overriding directors, and generally stressing animators out.
It would seem that, whilst Lord and Miller have proven they can create phenomenal movies, their methods leave much to be desired, with artists watching hours and hours of their time and energy cut over and over again, never to see the light of day. Another artist told Vulture, “In every movie I’ve worked on, there have been revisions. You’re always working on a movie that is evolving. But definitely not on this level.”
When asked about what they think of the impending release date for the third film, and whether or not it is realistic, an artist said:
“They’ve announced that Beyond the Spider-Verse will be released in March of next year. I’ve seen people say, ‘Oh, they probably worked on it at the same time.’ There’s no way that movie’s coming out then. There’s been progress on the pre-production side of things. But as far as the production side goes, the only progress that’s been made on the third one is any exploration or tests that were done before the movie was split into two parts. Everyone’s been fully focused on Across the Spider-Verse and barely crossing the finish line. And now it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, now we have to do the other one.’“
There is a huge shift happening in Hollywood right now which is seeing those working on films at lower levels demanding fairer compensation and better working conditions. This has been most notable in the writers’ strike currently happening as well as the complaints that visual artists are being pushed to the edge, especially in the big studios such as Marvel that have been heavily relying on VFX in recent years.
It would appear then, from the comments by Lord and Miller, that perhaps next year’s release date will not be met. Let’s hope this is not because they can never make up their minds, but because they actually allow their artists breaks, and time for a proper work-life balance, so they enjoy creating the next brilliant animated movie rather than resenting it.