Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse took the unique animation style of the first movie and cranked the dial straight to eleven. While the Spider-Verse sequel was a big success, it came under fire for harsh working conditions that reportedly pushed artists to the brink in order to get the film done.
While speaking with Variety, Spider-Verse producers/co-writers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were asked to comment on the ongoing strikes and were given an opportunity to address the criticism about working conditions on the sequel.
“I’ve always been optimistic about this labor movement, because these deals seem incredibly makeable, and the main problem is that only one party wants to negotiate,” Lord said. “But as long as both parties will come to negotiate in good faith and address the very real problems, like writers’ pay — which is down 25% and is a concrete issue that can be addressed — and make the business healthy so people can do this job and pay their rent, we’re going to be in great shape. I’m frustrated, but I think this is an imminently solvable problem.” When it comes to Spider-Verse, Lord wasn’t about to get into dive into the controversy.
In terms of “Spider-Verse,” that was a really hard movie to make. We’re really proud of how hard everybody worked, and it was very demanding. But we’re just really proud of the crew, and everything they put into it.
The artists who participated in the report exploring the working conditions on Across the Spider-Verse have placed part of the blame on Phil Lord’s management style, or more specifically, in his inability to “conceptualize 3-D animation during the early planning stages” and his preference to edit fully rendered material.
“When Miles Morales is unexpectedly approached by his best friend and love interest Gwen Stacy to complete a mission to save every universe of Spider-People from a mysterious new villain who could cause a catastrophic disaster, Miles is up for the challenge,” reads the official synopsis for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. “He and Gwen journey through the Multiverse together and meet its protectors, a group of Spider-People known as the Spider-Force. However, Miles finds himself at odds with the Spider-Force on how to handle the threat.” Across the Spider-Verse features the voices of Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Vélez, Jake Johnson, Jason Schwartzman, Issa Rae, Karan Soni, Daniel Kaluuya, and Oscar Isaac. The film was directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson from a script by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and David Callaham.
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse has been delayed and doesn’t have an official release date at the moment.