The much-delayed Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse currently has a June 18, 2027 release date. If the animated movie does hit that date, it’ll arrive four years after 2023’s Across the Spider-Verse, and eight years after 2018’s Into the Spider-Verse came out. So, what’s taking so long?
In an interview with io9, Spider-Verse producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller explained the hold-up. They said that a lot of the delay had to do with the pressure they put on themselves to outdo the previous two movies, which enjoyed critical and commercial acclaim, and the sheer amount of work required to come up with something that will do just that. Then there were issues that came with the decision to split the sequel in two, and subsequently having to piece it back together to create not just a coherent trilogy, but coherent individual movies.
“At one point it was one movie, but there was too much movie there, so it was separated into two,” Miller explained. “But then once you looked at that second half of a movie, you’re like, ‘Well, that’s like not just a story arc that has a beginning, middle, and end.”
“We know where it’s headed, but we need to understand better what’s happening in the middle,” Lord added. “And we came upon a really wonderful notion, which is when your family is broken apart by your calling, your talents, how do you put them back together? How do you have it all?”
“We put the most pressure on ourselves,” Miller went on to say. “There’s no one that puts more pressure on us than ourselves, wanting to outdo ourselves each time and see things that you haven’t seen before and make it feel like something you’ve never experienced before. And so, trying to get something that is as worthy as the previous two has been the driver.”
“Having to take it apart to put it back together again was really, really [the] real thing that made it take longer,” Miller said.
Then there was, as Lord put it, the “small detour” that was Project Hail Mary. That’s the upcoming Ryan Gosling adaptation of the 2021 hard sci-fi novel of the same name that Lord and Miller directed. That’s a pretty big detour, I’d say.
As it stands, Beyond the Spider-Verse is a little over a year away. So what can we expect? Daniel Kaluuya, who played Hobart "Hobie" Brown / Spider-Punk in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, is set to play the same character in Beyond the Spider-Verse (he’s also set to reprise the role in a Spider-Punk animated spinoff).
Marvin Jones III, who voices supervillain Tombstone in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, is also set to reprise his role for Beyond the Spider-Verse. (He’ll play a live-action version of the character in this year’s MCU movie Spider-Man: Brand New Day, too.)
Last year, Sony released the first photos of Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse during its CinemaCon presentation. Check them out in the gallery below.
Footage screened for attendees began with a voiceover from Miles: “You can’t ask me… not to save my father.” The footage then pulled back through trippy sky colors and images from the last movie with dialogue excerpts. Miles was seen fighting his evil self and walking into a dark tunnel with others behind him. Then his line from the last movie — “Imma do my own thing” — was heard before confirmation of what was then a June 4, 2027 release date.
Story wise, Lord said Beyond the Spider-Verse picks up right after the events of Across the Spider-Verse, and that Gwen Stacy and Miles Morales’ friends may or may not be enough to save everyone.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/why-is-spider-man-beyond-the-spider-verse-taking-so-long-producers-phil-lord-and-chris-miller-explain