Internet rumors and conventional pundit thinking goes a little like this: once Tom Holland is done with Marvel’s “Spider-Man” franchise, perhaps a little too old to play the convincing part of a high-schooler or college-age kid, Sony Pictures will pivot to a live-action Miles Morales who will also join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That could be the case, but it might not come for a while.
While Amy Pascal, the producer of the ‘Spider-Man’ movies, has said in the past that they do have intentions to make a Miles Morales live-action movie, in a recent interview with Variety, she only said the film is coming “someday” and not until at least two more Spider-Verse animated films are made first.
Asked if and when a Miles Morales solo film was coming, Pascal said, “Someday, not until we make two more movies. Someday, we are very happy doing what we’re doing.”
“Where is it on the spreadsheet?” the Variety interviewer asked about a release date on the calendar to which “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” filmmaker Phil Lord quipped. “You think there’s a spreadsheet? That’s so generous.”
Pascal’s comments are interesting because so far, there have only been two ‘Spider-Verse’ sequels announced, “Across The Spider-Verse,” which came out last year, and “Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse,” which seemingly isn’t arriving until 2025.
“There’s definitely going to be like a Miles Morales live-action eventually,” Donald Glover, who played a version of the Prowler in ‘Across The Spider-Verse,’ and had a small role in “Spider-Man: Far From Home” also recently said, echoing Pascal’s comments in an interview with Vanity Fair. “And I think they’re probably more concerned with me being Prowler in that or something like that. I’m too old to be Spider-Man now.”
This could make sense, though; franchises are usually built into a trilogy, and the ‘Spider-Verse’ animation filmmakers— Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson—on a recent episode of a Variety podcast recently suggested that ‘Across The Spider-Verse’ and ‘Beyond The Spider-Verse’ were meant to be one film, but was only split in two when the filmmakers realized their story was too big and they then had to rewrite their script.
What could be the case is a trilogy, with a middle film that’s cut in two parts. That said, it’s not entirely clear what Pascal means, but given she’s speaking with the ‘Spider-Verse’ team, what else could two more films mean?
What is there to expect from ‘Beyond The Spider-Verse’, either the third film in the trilogy or just a part two of chapter two, depending on how you read it, well, action, according to a Screenrant interview with ‘Spider-Verse’ star Shameik Moore.
“Action…you can expect Miles and Gwen. You can expect everything [laughs] you’re expecting the continuation from the second one. You can expect to see The Spot; you can expect some action-packed energy and some dilemmas and problems to solve,” he said, obviously not revealing too much.
Still, that’ll be enough to keep fans happy. Currently, there is no official release date for “Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse.” But it was initially scheduled for March 2024 and then taken off the calendar almost a year in advance when Sony and the filmmakers realized there was no way they would be making that release date.
In the aforementioned podcast, the trio of directors wouldn’t even say if the animated film was coming out in 2025, though it seems more than obvious that’s the earliest it could arrive. Are we getting one additional, somewhat unexpected ‘Spider-Verse’ film? Time will tell, but given Pascal and the filmmaker’s comments, honestly, it would not surprise us. Meanwhile, elsewhere in Sony’s Spider-Verse, their latest film, “Madame Web,” is apparently a big dud.
Update: Welp, there goes that entire there: