“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” is the next chapter of the Oscar-winning computer-generated Spider-Verse saga, with “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse” already in the works for a 2024 release.
In 2018, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” matched every dollar spent producing the animated film on marketing initiatives, grossing $383.4 million.
There’s nothing like the well-oiled Sony and Marvel (Disney) machines to create hype and market every possible Spider-Man spin-off to maximize shareholder value. Sony makes the bulk of its money from Spider-Man film rights, whereas Marvel (Disney) makes the bulk of its money from merchandising rights: both partners complement each other.
Although “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” will only be released on Friday, we’ve already been deluged with Funko Pops figures, a mechanism for fans to join the “Spider Society” and complete a personality quiz that produces customized Spidersonas, Spider-Verse Burger King menu items, a limited edition of Nike Air Jordans inspired by the film, and Fortnite Spider-Verse Web-Shooter skins. Hyundai’s Prophecy concept EV and examples of its future mobility vision have been built into the Spider-Verse. And the hoopla ain’t over yet.
Beyond all of this commercialization, the increasingly sophisticated art of computer-generated animation is what makes movies like “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” possible. Do you know that Sony Pictures Imageworks runs the bulk of its visual effects and computer animated feature film business out of a super cool head office in Vancouver? The fact that Vancouver is just a hop and a skip away from its Quincy Washington Data Center, the undoubtedly attractive government subsidies, the lower value of the Canadian dollar compared to the USD, and the stability of Canada make such a cross-border arrangement hard to beat.
If you haven’t already seen the trailers for “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”, here they are as we all eagerly await Friday’s theatrical release. Will this next Spider-Verse installment, with $10 million more thrown into the production budget, earn another Oscar? We’ll have to wait until March 10, 2024 – but that’s not as tough as it has been waiting 5 years for this second chapter to unfold in the Spider-Verse saga.