Delaying movies is all the rage now thanks to current events. Not only have completed movies been pushed back on the calendar, but projects that were in the midst of filming or getting ready to begin production have also been postponed. The latest example of this comes on the Spider-Man front, with two web-slinging movies now being shifted to later in their respective years.
Until today, the plan was for Tom Holland’s third Spider-Man movie, unofficially known as Spider-Man 3, to arrive on July 16, 2021, while the animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2 would come out on April 8, 2022. That’s no longer the case, as Sony has announced that Spider-Man 3 is moving to November 5, 2021, and Into the Spider-Verse 2 is moving to October 7, 2022.
While Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2 going to an October release in 2022 isn’t particularly weird, at first glance, it is baffling that Spider-Man 3 moving to that particular November 2021 date, as that’s the day Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is opening. Surely Marvel Studios and Sony don’t want two Marvel Cinematic Universe projects competition against each other, right?
That’s the correct assessment, and as a result, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will now be coming out on March 25, 2022. This marks the second time that the Doctor Strange sequel has been pushed back, as it was originally primed for a May 2021 release. It’s also been revealed that Thor: Love and Thunder will now hit theaters a week early, moving from February 18, 2022 to February 11.
This is just the latest around of MCU date shifts that have unfolded over the last month. Ever since Black Widow had to vacate its May 1 slot, the superhero franchise’s calendar has had to adjust accordingly.
In Spider-Man 3’s case, its original release plan was complicated when fellow Sony superhero movie Venom: Let There Be Carnage was delayed to June 25, 2021, a mere three weeks before Spider-Man 3 would have dropped. When you also factor in that Spider-Man 3 likely won’t hit its goal of beginning principal photography this summer, it’s understandable why the Wall-Crawler’s next live-action adventure is arriving later.
As for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2, by the time it hits its new release date, it’ll have been nearly four years since its predecessor came out and was met with critical acclaim, with its many accolades including winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. No specific plot details have been revealed for the sequel yet other than it will continue Miles Morales’ story, but this time around, Joaquim Does Santos and David Callaham are directing and writing the script, respectively.
We’re also in the dark about what to expect from Spider-Man 3, although we can at least count on it exploring the aftermath of Peter Parker being framed for the Elemental attacks and his secret identity being exposed at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home. Jon Watts will return to the director’s chair, and Zandaya will reprise MJ alongside Tom Holland’s Peter.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates concerning all corners of the Spider-Man film franchise, and don’t forget to browse through our delayed movies guide to learn how else the theatrical calendar has changed recently.
