Sequels are tricky propositions. When a movie does well, you assume that a studio wants to dip back into the well and explore what worked the first time. But you also want to maintain the integrity of what worked, so that the sequel continues to grow and expand on what worked so well the previous time.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse seems ripe for a sequel. It actually ends with a scene that sets up a continuation of the story (which I won’t describe here in detail, in case you haven’t seen the movie yet). And in a conversation with io9, Spider-Verse producer Amy Pascal revealed that work is being done on the next Spider-Verse, saying:
We are definitely hard at work on the sequel. You can expect another movie.
This makes sense. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse won the Oscar in the Best Animated Feature category, topping perennial Oscar favorites at Pixar. The movie banked $375 million globally, and reinvented an animation style that worked incredibly well for the different Spider-Men (and women) that gravitated over from other dimensions.
Sony had already revealed that the would be another Into the Spider-Verse movie, likely focusing on more adventures with Miles Morales (Shameik Moore). But they also said that they wanted to do a Spider-Gwen movie (with Hailee Steinfeld), and would explore new female characters through that spinoff.
Sounds like this is all set in stone, right? Well, not exactly.
Peter Ramsey, one of the three co-directors on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (and someone who absolutely would know about any movement on a sequel) Tweeted this in reply to the io9 story:
And that has to make us laugh, as well as wonder what’s going on. Is it possible that Amy Pascal misspoke, and assumed that the creative team is farther along in the process than they actually are? Or is Ramsey just messing with the fanbase, realizing that the deadline date for delivery on a sequel is much closer than he might have realized in his brain.
Either way, if we had to guess, we think that the sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is definitely happening, but the studio and the creative team will have to agree on WHEN it will happen. Animated movies take a LOT of time, and rushing into a sequel would be a very bad idea.
At the same time, the introduction of the multiverse means that Spider-Verse can go almost anywhere Peter Ramsey, Bob Persichetti and Rodney Rothman can imagine. And because it’s animated, there’s no fear of your cast aging out of the roles (a concern that’s currently facing Tom Holland as he films live-action Spidey movies).
So, a sequel likely is coming. But Peter Ramsey’s Tweet makes us think Sony and the co-directors aren’t nearly as far along in the process as fans might expect. We’ll continue to track the progress of Sony’s animated Spider-Man franchise, and report back any movement that happens.
