Sony Pictures Entertainment and Marvel Studios did everything possible, during the run up to the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, to protect the fact that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were returning to the franchise as part of a Multiverse twist. Poor Garfield, who had a half-dozen projects to promote, notoriously denied his involvement in No Way Home so many times, no one knew exactly what to believe. Part of the reason why fans maintained hope that the historic reunion might actually happen is because they were being fed valuable intel from “inside the house.” Mainly, Jamie Foxx was posting things on Instagram.
When news broke that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 star Jaime Foxx would be reprising his role of Max Dillon, aka Electro, in Spider-Man: No Way Home, fans were stunned that he just let it all out regarding the three Spider-Men being together on screen. The Instagram post he shared looked like this:
That tipped the movie’s hand, and basically leaked the biggest rumor that Sony and Marvel were trying to keep under wraps until Spider-Man: No Way Home released in theater. So when we got the chance to sit down with Jamie Foxx on behalf of his new Netflix comedy Day Shift, we brought up his unintentional leak, and the reception for the movie. And he told us:
It was crazy. It was like a- it was like a rock concert, when we did that film. And I thought Sony did a fantastic job of mystique. You know what I’m saying? Holding things, keeping things – you know, I kind of almost blew it. … As soon as I got on the set and there was all three Spider-Mans, I was like this (picks up cell phone). ’Oh, we up in here, baby, ‘bout to go live...’ And somebody just dove on me like I was a fire. I was like, ‘What the hell?’ ‘Shh! No one’s supposed to know.’ ‘Okay, my bad. Okay, we ain’t supposed to know that all three of them are here!’ But I think they did a great job in doing that, bringing some mystique. And I think that that’s what was needed to get people back in the theater.
It worked. Spider-Man: No Way Home was the movie that brought most audience members back to the theater in droves following the COVID restrictions that impacted the theater business, earning more than $1 billion in worldwide tickets sold. The movie will return to theaters in September with a longer cut, adding 15 minutes of footage, in hopes of boosting that already impressive box office. Maybe Jamie Foxx will tell us what’s in the footage by posting it on his Instagram.
While you wait for Spider-Man: No Way Home to return to theaters, check out Jamie Foxx and Dave Franco as moderately talented vampire killers in Netflix’s Day Shift, arriving on the streaming service on August 12.
