With no definitive end in sight for the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, Sony Pictures recently pushed back a number of upcoming movies, including Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was very much The Empire Strikes Back of the animated trilogy, ending with a major cliffhanger sending up the next instalment. That left fans eager to return to dive back into the Spider-Verse, but the wait looks set to be considerably longer than first expected.
While Beyond the Spider-Verse meeting its planned March 2024 release always seemed doubtful, the fact the threequel's release date is now "TBD" (which is essentially the same as an indefinite delay) has left us all reeling.
Talking to Digital Spy (via Toonado.com) about their new movie Strays, producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller made it clear the movie will...well, it will get here when it gets here.
"Those conversations are thankfully above our paygrade," Lord said of the delay, "but I can tell you we're already hard at work on it, and we'll take the time it takes to make it great," confirming the movie will only be released "when it is ready."
Miller chimed in to add, "What we're trying to accomplish with the film is have it be the most satisfying conclusion to the story than it can be, and take it to places that you haven’t been before. And make you laugh and cry, and cheer and think."
Even before the release date delay was made official, we'd heard that none of the cast had recorded lines and the animation wasn't close to being done. Now, there's even talk of Beyond the Spider-Verse swinging into theaters as late as 2026.
That would be a crushing wait for fans excited to see how the story ends, but we'd be remiss not to remind you there was a five-year gap between Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its eventual follow-up...