Sony Pictures Animation's upcoming film, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, dealt with numerous difficulties during production.
Across the Spider-Verse is set to hit theaters on June 2, and it is expected to take everything that fans loved about Miles Morales and Into the Spider-Verse and crank it up to 11.
There will be far more characters than in the first film, potentially more antagonists such as Vulture, and undoubtedly a lot of the same elements that made Into the Spider-Verse so charming in the eyes of so many fans.
However, the making of Across the Spider-Verse apparently wasn't smooth sailing, with the film actually having a decent amount of problems.
Across the Spider-Verse's Expensive Production Problems
In a recent podcast episode of The Town with Matthew Belloni, host Matthew Belloni revealed that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse encountered numerous problems during production.
While touching on Across the Spider-Verse's box office prospects, Belloni briefly noted that these issues - which caused "a bunch of" scenes to get reworked - directly translated to Across the Spider-Verse ultimately becoming a much more expensive film to make than the previous Spider-Verse movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse:
"Well, it cost a lot more than the first one [Into the Spider-Verse] because they had a bunch of problems on this one, and they scrapped a bunch of stuff and went back - it's Lord & Miller and they kind of write as they go..."
For reference, Into the Spider-Verse had a budget of $90M. Since Across the Spider-Verse is reportedly more expensive, it is likely that its budget is at least at the $100M mark, if not higher.
Across the Spider-Verse also suffered two delays since its announcement (the sequel was initially set to release in April 2022), making it possible that these production problems factored into the studio's decision for the film to be delayed. However, a recent rumor suggested that the delays were due to Tom Holland's involvement in the upcoming movie.
This information has not been confirmed by Sony Pictures themselves.
Why So Many Changes on Spider-Verse 2?
Belloni revealed that a lot of the problems during Across the Spider-Verse's production were a direct result of writers Phil Lord and Chris Miller making on-the-fly changes. So, if there were so many changes that the budget was drastically increased and the release date was potentially delayed, what could those changes be?
Obviously, it would take either a few huge changes or a lot of small ones to have such a large effect on the overall outcome of the film. It is no secret that Across the Spider-Verse is going to be a massive project, especially since there are going to be so many different Spider-People.
With that being said, there may have been some sequences tweaked during production that Lord and Miller didn't particularly like. It is also possible there could have even been some character additions (Tom Holland?) at certain parts of the process that could have forced this result.
Every movie goes through so many changes during its production, so it is no surprise that Across the Spider-Verse had a few of its own. Lord and Miller ultimately made decisions they felt were right and made the film a better experience overall, even if it meant a few problems and some more expenses for the studio.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will be released in theaters on June 2.
