Recently, the Disney franchise has found itself in hot water with its fans after making many questionable decisions with their movies. One of the most controversial choices was Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which left many disappointed with how it ended. This has caused quite the uproar in the Spider-Man fandom, as people anxiously await a part two to the movie. While everyone stands by, there is one question left to be asked: Will part two live up to the public’s high expectations?
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is the second film in the animated Spider-Man movie series that features the topic of the “Spider-Verse” or in other words, the multi-dimensional worlds that have different Spider-Mans. The first movie to start this series was Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which is what created a new plot of having multiple different animated versions of the same character. It fantastically displays the new topic and is the reason why so many people went to watch the most recent release.
The story follows Miles Morales, who like Peter Parker in the original comics, was bitten by a spider and has to learn to deal with the responsibilities that come along with his newfound powers. This movie does a good job making many parallels between the original and all the spin-off characters that have been created. The film continues Morales’s journey of navigating his teenage life, while also hiding from the world that he is Spider-Man.
Disney owns many companies, including Disney+, National Geographic, and Marvel. This means that although each have their own types of content, Disney is overall still responsible for what they publish and produce. Release dates are not usually an issue in the movie industry because there are rarely highly anticipated ‘part two’s, but the new Spider-Man has created a spark.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was released June 2nd, 2023 and quickly became a hit, earning over $683 million in the box office, and becoming the third highest grossing film of the year in the United States. Millions of Spider-Man fans watched it in theaters, many even going back to see it multiple times once someone involved with the movie disclosed that there were multiple versions of the film released, each with just the smallest differences from the others.
Even with all of that hype, many people still wanted additional viewing time for the movie, and were unhappy with the way that it ended. While the final few minutes were not bad, they definitely did leave the watcher wishing for more. That being said, part two of the movie, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, was set to have a release date in March of 2024. However, that was delayed because of the current writers strikes taking place at the time this is written.
The first and second movies in this series were expertly done and executed Stan Lee’s idea of the Spider-Verse very well. Unfortunately, in the almost two and a half hours that the movie lasts, the plot really only starts within the last 30 minutes. While the rest of the movie is important, it would have been nice to have a more accessible part two. That being said, the current estimated release date for Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse is unknown, with the only information given that it will be sometime in 2024.
