In a recent interview with GamesRadar, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller explained why the movie’s digital release introduced some changes to its multiple theatrical cuts.
Sony Pictures Imageworks “still had some shots that they felt they could do better for the finished version” while the movie’s international cut was going through censor checks two months before its release, according to Miller. This led to crew members chipping in with additional ideas for a final cut of the film with some tweaks and “improvements” to scenes that Miller says fans could “pore over forever.”
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“Certain crew members– people in the sound department or on the animation team– were like, ‘Oh, could we do this instead?’” Miller told GamesRadar. “Let’s do the best possible version we can. Because it’s a multiverse movie, it’s like there’s a multiverse of the movie– that was really the reasoning behind it. It was trying to make the best possible version that everyone was going to be the proudest of.”
Back in July, moviegoers had their collective minds blown by the fact that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse had multiple versions circulating in theaters (outside of the one with audio issues). At the time, fans thought the cuts added to the meta-narrative feel of the film’s multiverse storyline and gave them an excuse to watch it multiple times to see if they noticed any subtle changes in the film. However, fans seem less charitable with some of the additional line changes that the record-breaking animated film made in its home release.
Some changes include alternate lines from Miles Morales at the end of the big Spider-Men chase scene, and how he discovers he’s in the wrong dimension toward the end of the movie.
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Beyond the Spider-Verse will release ‘when it is ready’
While Spider-Verse’s home release was equated to a game’s day-one patch update, its producers also gave a video game-esque answer as to when folks should expect its sequel Beyond the Spider-Verse to hit theaters, saying only that it will come out “when it is ready.”
“Those conversations are thankfully above our paygrade, but I can tell you we’re already hard at work on it, and we’ll take the time it takes to make it great,” Lord told Digital Spy.
Beyond the Spider-Verse was initially slated to release on March 24 before being delayed indefinitely by Sony Pictures in the wake of the SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes.
“What we’re trying to accomplish with the film is have it be the most satisfying conclusion to the story than it can be, and take it to places that you haven’t been before. And make you laugh and cry, and cheer and think,” Miller told Digital Spy.
