After almost a month in theaters, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse appears to be a strong early contender for the summer movie of 2023. And even though it will compete with Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny the following weekend, Sony’s animated movie is off to a great start financially. With a $100 million budget, this film has earned $506.9 million worldwide so far. That must imply that Sony is optimistic about the Beyond The Spider-Verse trilogy finale’s planned March 2024 release, right?
Despite receiving a lot of positive reviews and recently surpassing $500 million at the box office worldwide, the sequel’s production team reportedly had to deal with some extremely difficult circumstances.
Although Phil Lord and Chris Miller have made a name for themselves as two of Hollywood’s most creative filmmakers, their firing from Solo: A Star Wars Story shows that their method of filmmaking is not always successful.
Recently, Vulture published a highly damaging exposé about the poor working conditions of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Will that cause a delay for Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse?
Will The Release of Beyond the Spider-Verse Be Delayed?
It is because the working conditions necessary to produce such artistic work are not sustainable, claim those who worked on the recently released sequel, Across the Spider-Verse.
Many members of the Across the Spider-Verse team, from artists to production executives, who have worked in the animation industry for anywhere between five and a dozen years, describe the production process as particularly difficult. This required a relentless form of revisionism that forced about 100 artists to leave the film before it was finished.
Four of these crew members agreed to an anonymous interview in order to discuss the pressure to finish the picture. They blame Phil Lord‘s management style, particularly his apparent inability to conceptualize 3-D animation during the early planning stages and his preference to edit fully rendered work.
Because of this, some claim they worked 11-hour days, seven days a week, in an effort to make up for the time they lost.
Also, Lord, who sought final approval for every single sequence, seems to have been more important in this process than the movie’s directors, even overruling them.
How Did The Fans Respond To This?
In accordance with a VULTURE article, many of the VFX artists working on Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse have been putting in 10 to 12-hour shifts seven days a week. This is a common problem in the animation sector, where deadlines are short and resources are frequently scarce.
Nevertheless, it is becoming more and more obvious that these working conditions are untenable and may harm the artists as well as the finished work.
Fans have posted on social media in response to these reports to express their disappointment and concern regarding the situation. Many worry that the challenging working circumstances will result in a lower-quality film or that the issues will force the film’s release date to be postponed.
While many people are willing to wait and do not mind the delay.
Take a look at a few of the tweets from the fans.
The subject has sparked a wider debate about how employees in the animation sector are treated. There are many demands for better pay, benefits, and working conditions for VFX artists and other animation professionals.
Well, the release date of Spider-Man: Beyond‘s future is uncertain, and it is also known that problems with the VFX artists can cause more delays. But it is obvious that the industry as a whole needs to pay attention because of this circumstance. In the future, hopefully, this will result in significant changes and improved working conditions (at least) for those who work in animation.
Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse has already been released on June 2, 2023.
Source- VULTURE
