A new claim has surfaced that the script for animated sequel Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse was ‘scrapped’ by Sony last year.
In recent months, there have been a couple of rumours that Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse – Sony’s sequel to its animated hit, Across The Spider-Verse – might be in a spot of trouble. Several high-profile people connected to Beyond have issued denials, but the claims still persist.
Here’s the latest one: there was reportedly a script written for Beyond The Spider-Verse last year, but Sony decided to scrap it in the wake of Across The Spider-Verse's release in 2023.
This latest bit of gossip comes from Brandon Davis, who relayed what he’s heard from the film’s production on his Phase Hero show on YouTube. You can find his comments on Beyond at around the 48 minute mark in the embed below. If you prefer reading things, here’s what Davis said:
“I know that that movie is very, very far off. I don’t know if it’s being animated yet. I know they restarted the script after Across The Spider-Verse came out. They didn’t have the ending – at least not agreed upon.”
Davis brought this up in response to hopes that a huge LED Spider-Man logo, recently attached to the side of a building in New York, might be a sign that Sony’s about to make some sort of Spider-Verse announcement. Instead, the big logo turned out to be a plug for one of Sony’s Bravia television sets.
“I saw that neon logo on Twitter and everything,” Davis said, adding that Beyond The Spider-Verse is so early in development that “there’s no way they’re going to drop [an announcement]. It’s too good to be true.”
Davis’ claim supports Jeff Sneider’s September report that Sony had at some point scrapped a Beyond script for ‘creative reasons’ (thanks, World of Reel) and that the film would be unlikely to emerge until 2027 as a result. Co-writer Chris Miller and composer Daniel Pemberton both refuted the story.
Intended to be the closing chapter in a Spider-Verse trilogy, Beyond was originally scheduled for release in March 2024. That it’s already missed that slot by a wide margin could suggest there are indeed some creative issues behind the scenes, though last year’s Hollywood strikes may have also played a factor in the delay.
Certainly, Across The Spider-Verse wasn’t without its production problems, with artists quoted by Vulture suggesting that working conditions on the movie were particularly arduous. “I’ve worked on projects where things are rewritten – even late in production,” said one animator. “But this is another level of craziness.”
Beyond The Spider-Verse isn’t the only Spider-Man production said to be going through creative wobbles. Sony and Marvel have reportedly been at an impasse over the creative direction of the live-action sequel to 2021’s $2bn-earning Spider-Man: No Way Home. Marvel is said to want a more grounded story; Sony wants to go further into fantastical, multiverse shenanigans. If a press release published on Sony Pictures Japan’s website has been translated accurately, then it sounds as though the maker of Bravia televisions has won that particular argument.
We’ll bring you more as we hear it.
