Nearly four years have passed since Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse dazzled viewers with its groundbreaking animation techniques, all of which undoubtedly played a role in its eventual win for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars. But it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the producers are aiming to outdo themselves on the highly-anticipated sequel. It was already revealed that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse would render each of its parallel realities using a different style of animated artwork. And thanks to Empire, we finally know just how many of these styles will be on display when the film arrives next year.
Into the Spider-Verse memorably showed five spider-variants entering Miles Morales’ home dimension. So at the time, it made sense for the film to showcase only one animation style. But since Miles is the one jumping through wormholes in the next installment, audiences will experience a half-dozen new worlds through his eyes. Luckily, returning producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller had some practice before starting work on Across the Spider-Verse. The pair even explained how their last project helped them fine tune their process on the sequel.
“The first film had one animation style that dominates the movie,” said Lord. “This movie has six. So we’re taking those tools, adding all the things we learned on The Mitchells vs. The Machines, and then growing them further to accommodate the ambition of this movie. Which is to wow you every time you enter a new environment, and also to make sure that the style of the movie reflect the story, and that the images are driven by feelings, as opposed to some egg-headed art project. Which it also is, by the way!”
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Over the last six decades, hundreds of illustrators have lent their unique talents to Marvel’s Spider-Man canon. So Lord, Miller, and their collaborators had plenty of visual influences to choose from. But they didn’t just look to the original comics for inspiration. They also included artists from other mediums as well.
“The two that you saw in the teaser trailer were what’s called Earth-50101, which we’re calling ‘Mumbattan,’” added Miller. “That’s based on an Indian comic-book look. And Nueva York from Spider-Man 2099’s world. That’s based on Syd Mead-style illustrations of what the future might look like. There’s also Gwen’s world, which is Earth-65. And that was a watercolour-wash style that’s reminiscent of the covers of her comic books.”
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will hit theaters on June 2, 2023.
Are you excited to see the film’s animation styles on the big screen next summer? Let us know in the comment section below!
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