I have to be honest, I’m so excited to see The Sheep Detectives when it premieres on the 2026 movie schedule. The idea of a bunch of sheep solving a murder sounds utterly delightful, and the incredible A-List ensemble cast, which includes Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson, makes it even better. Now, Project Hail Mary’s co-director Chris Miller has shared his stamp of approval for the film, and it’s doing more for it than its great Rotten Tomatoes numbers.

Again, the trailer for The Sheep Detectives sold me on this movie. However, the very positive reactions for this film directed by Kyle Balda have been making me even more excited about its May 8 release. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 96% rating based on 27 reviews, which is incredibly good, and Variety’s review called the film a “wholesomely offbeat family comedy.” It’s the reactions to those reviews that are making me even more hyped, though, especially since one of them came from beloved director, writer and producer Chris Miller, as he wrote on X:

I’m sorry, but Babe meets Knives Out is a pitch I never, ever thought I’d read. Like, mixing a staple childhood movie from the ‘90s that features talking animals with one of the best whodunnits of our time? I didn’t know that was possible. However, I’m here for it, and you better believe it’s motivating me to go see The Sheep Detectives the second it comes out in theaters.

In hindsight, this comment makes sense too. In The Sheep Detectives, a group of sheep set out to solve the murder of their shepherd, George (Hugh Jackman). So, it has the talking animals and heart of a movie like Babe, and the utterly creative mystery we’ve come to associate with Rian Johnson’s Knives Out movies.

Along with this comparison sparking interest, the fact that Miller was the one who made it also helps sell The Sheep Detectives.

For context, Chris Miller and Phil Lord are executive producers on The Sheep Detectives. This marks their second release this year, right on the heels of the critically acclaimed Project Hail Mary, which has been a massive box office hit in 2026. They also helped bring Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse into the world, and they directed beloved films like 21 Jump Street and The Lego Movie. In short, their creativity and ability to take big swings are a massive reason why people love them and their work, and it seems like The Sheep Detectives does just that, too.

Now, if you needed any more convincing about why you should see this movie, it was written by Craig Mazin (The Last of Us) and Leonie Swann. And Bryan Cranston, Brett Goldstein, Patrick Stewart, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Chris O’Dowd and more provide voices for the sheep, while Jackman, Emma Thompson, Molly Gordon, Nicholas Braun, Nicholas Galitzine and more make up the human cast.

So, in conclusion, what could go wrong with a movie that has been described as Babe meets Knives Out? According to Chris Miller and the reviews, it seems the answer is not much. In fact, according to the numbers, reviews and the director of Project Hail Mary, it seems like The Sheep Detectives is very well worth your time and attention when it hits theaters on May 8.

I've seen Project Hail Mary a few times in theaters at this point, and one of the things I've enjoyed most with each rewatch is how much attention to detail there is. I feel like I've noticed something new or found deeper appreciation from small moments or bits of dialogue with each viewing of the book-to-screen adaptation. In this case, I wanted to talk about the scar on Grace's arm near the end of the film. I can't do that without getting into spoilers, so consider yourself warned if you haven't seen the 2026 movie. Big Project Hail Mary spoilers ahead!

The Scar On Grace's Arm

Ok, so if you didn't notice it, toward the end of Project Hail Mary, when Grace has decided to head back to Rocky's ship rather than continue home, there's at least one glimpse of his bare forearm, which shows a scar. I didn't think much of it the first time I saw the movie, but later it occurred to me that he got that scar when Rocky came out of his partition and carried or dragged him to get medical attention after they collected the taumoaba. A lot is happening during that intense scene, and we only see glimpses, but at one point, it seems like Rocky has him by the arm, and later, when Ryland comes out of hibernation, he has a bandage on his right arm, presumably where they made contact.

That he got the scar from Rocky saving his life was an interesting connection to me on its own, but the more I thought about it, I made two other connections that I'm theorizing could give that scar even more meaning.

Rocky And Grace Can't Touch Each Other (Or They REALLY Shouldn't, Anyway)

Knowing Rocky and Grace would remain together and friends for the foreseeable future, it's kind of jarring to think that they can never physically touch one another. To avoid severe burns, their hugs will presumably always be separated by some kind of xenonite barrier. So, in a weird way, the mark Rocky left on Ryland's arm sort of commemorates the one time they made physical contact with one another, and that's kind of special -- I mean, in the optimistic way we might sometimes consider certain scars to be a reminder of something life-changing, or in Grace's case, life-saving.

The Significance Of Markings For Rocky's People

The relevance and meaning behind a scar got me thinking of Rocky's own etchings and marks. Grace may have given Rocky his name because of his rock-like appearance, but his design is more deliberate than that. Looking at his legs, you can see carvings and marks on him that seem intentional and important.

In an Audible live stream event for the movie, directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller talk about the design of Rocky, and Neal Scanlan's work developing him in the creature shop. During this conversation, they mention the carvings and marks on Rocky, which are meant to indicate his culture. That includes a wedding band and a mission patch, among other markings relevant to his life and work. I noticed at least once while watching the movie that, when he mentions his mate, Rocky points to his leg, so I think the turquoise mark on his leg might be the mentioned wedding ring.

The point I'm getting at here is that it's intentional that Rocky has marks on his body to signify certain important things about who he is. I like to think that the scar on Grace's arm is, in some ways, his own Eridian marking. Of course, I don't think it was Rocky's intention to burn his friend -- he was just trying to save his life. But in doing so, when their bodies came in contact, he left Grace with a mark on his arm that's now a physical reminder of Rocky's heroic act, and the bond these two characters have from working together to save their planets, becoming best friends in the process.

I Don't Know If It's Intentional, But I'm Choosing To Believe It

I don't know if this is the connection we're supposed to draw from Grace's scar, but given how he got it, what we know about Rocky's design, and also what we know the significance of Stratt's tattoo (also from a scene near the end of the movie), it doesn't feel like much of a leap to see more meaning in Grace's scar. Regardless, I'm choosing to believe it because it makes me happy.

Ryan Gosling’s 2026 calendar release, Project Hail Mary, has been a box office hit, cementing itself as one of the best science fiction movies of recent memory, and a lot of that comes down to his performance. But that success wasn’t exactly guaranteed, especially when you factor in what he was up against on set. For large stretches of the shoot, he was working completely alone. According to the actor and filmmakers, it added up to nearly 100 days of solo work. Luckily, they found a pretty inventive way to keep him from feeling like he was drifting out there by himself.

Overall, Gosling has been open about just how isolating the role could be. The film puts him front and center as a lone astronaut trying to save humanity, which meant there weren’t many scene partners to lean on. For long stretches, it was just him, the set, and a whole lot of empty space to react to. So the solution was simple in concept but wild in execution: the filmmakers stayed in his ear while he performed. That was a request Gosling specifically made, too, as he explained to Polygon:

Pulling back the curtain a bit, Gosling and the movie's directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, explained how they approached the challenge of keeping a performance grounded when your lead actor is essentially talking to no one. The answer turned out to be clever, slightly chaotic, and very on-brand for this group.

Instead of leaving The Notebook star to carry those scenes entirely on his own, the directors found a way to stay inside the moment with him, literally. They piped themselves into his ear during takes, offering live feedback, suggestions and even the occasional curveball. At first, though, they weren’t totally sold on the idea, as Christopher Miller admitted:

But the Drive actor pushed for it, and once they committed, it turned into something much more dynamic than anyone expected. The other half of the directing duo, Phil Lord, added:

That unpredictability became part of the performance itself. The team even looped in puppeteer James Ortiz, who operates and voices the alien character Rocky, turning him into a kind of live conduit during scenes. Miller continued:

Sometimes the team didn’t even stop at dialogue. Music made its way into the process, too, giving Gosling emotional cues in real time. Miller added:

It sounds like it was very much a “whatever works, do it” sort of situation on the set of the new book-to-screen adaptation, and it’s the kind of behind-the-scenes trick that feels oddly perfect for Project Hail Mary. That's because it's a story about a man improvising his way through isolation, so it feels fitting that the movie ended up being made in a way that leaned into that same spirit.

It would seem the directors' trick of being in the actor's ear paid off, as the new sci-fi flick continues to rake in the money and enjoys critical success. Not to mention, it has been a real shot in the arm for theaters, giving us hope about the future of cinema and that the theater industry isn't on life support as we have all been hearing for some time. Apparently, even when it comes to movies, if you build it, audiences will come.

Project Hail Mary is still playing in theaters. Be sure to check your local listings for showtimes.

After a lifetime of loving and appreciating movies and over a decade-and-a-half of professionally writing about them, I'm still utterly wowed by their magic. In order to achieve a proper effect or look, filmmakers come up with some weird and ingenious solutions, and I'll never stop being dazzled when I learn about the ways that ideas are brought to life on the big screen. This story about how a wave of Astrophage is depicted in the new blockbuster Project Hail Mary is an absolutely perfect example.

The official IMAX Instagram account has posted a video of directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller commenting on a particularly stunning moment in their latest big screen feature, and their description of how it all came together is amazing. The scene in question is when Ryan Gosling's Ryland Grace is doing an EVA while the Hail Mary is in the middle of a Petrova Line, and we see Astrophage represented as swirling, pink points of light all around him. It's a cinematic image that drops your jaw… and Miller's description of how the effect was created is utterly delightful. Said the filmmaker,

When watching Project Hail Mary, the film entrances you with its spectacle, and your brain in the moment is willing to believe the sight of Ryan Gosling floating in a vacuum surrounded by alien life. But knowing that it's just a mix of a tweaked camera, some stringed lights and chicken wire is mind-bogglingly cool.

And that's not even the end of the awesomeness. While removing the infrared filter and setting up the blinking lights set up the basic appearance for the effect, the movie's cinematographer took the look one step further by performing a special trick with water as well. Miller added:

The filmmakers could have easily left the moment in the hands of the talented visual effects artists that were employed by the production, but I love the fact that they opted to create the look in camera, and it's beautiful.

Phil Lord and Chris Miller added that the set-up looked rather ridiculous on set, but one can't argue with the results:

• Chris Miller: It was one of these movie magic things where you're like, to the naked eye, it looked like a guy in a spacesuit standing around looking at his hands,
• Phil Lord: A bunch of psychos like pouring water onto a camera.
• Chris Miller: But when you look at what the camera with an infrared filter out looked like, it was just beautiful.

It's stunning, and a must for the big screen. Project Hail Mary is now playing in theaters everywhere (having just dominated the box office for the second weekend in a row), and if you haven't experienced it for yourself yet, you are very much missing out.

For an alien that looks like a giant, eyeless five-legged spider made of rocks, Rocky in Project Hail Mary is actually rather cute. He has a peppy energy reminiscent of a puppy (not to mention that he is approximately dog-sized), and it's fun to just watch him wonder at all of the new discoveries he encounters during his time with Ryan Gosling's Ryland Grace. But before you start having fantasies and penning any fan fiction, the film's directors want to make something clear: Rocky is definitely not a pet.

It seems somewhat silly, but this is actually something that filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller had to contend with in the making of Project Hail Mary, and they discussed it during an interview with CinemaBlend during the movie's Los Angeles press day. While comparisons have been made between Rocky and ET from E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial, for example, there was a clear intention with the film to establish that the alien in the new 2026 movie and Grace are beings with equal standing. Miller explained,

Obviously one huge difference maker is communication. Rocky is arguably at his most "pet-like" when Grace first encounters him in the tunnel that is forged between the Blip A and the Hail Mary. Perfect example: when Grace gives him a tape measure so that they can discuss units of measurements, Rocky's first instinct is to treat it like a toy – pulling out the tape and then letting it shoot back in. Of course, the reason for this behavior is because the Eridian doesn't have eyes and can't see the numbers printed on the metal.

The relationship evolves as Rocky and Grace begin to have real conversations, but the former truly eclipses any kind of pet status when we start to understand his attitude. As is made abundantly clear during one of Grace's video diaries, he finds his extraterrestrial pal to be quite bossy. This was not only part of the script but a part of the direction that was given to James Ortiz, who both voices Rocky and was the character's main puppeteer on set. Phil Lord told us that there were explicit conversations with the actor about Rocky's feelings toward Grace:

Project Hail Mary isn't a "boy and his dog" story; it's a classic buddy adventure – and audiences are loving it. For the second straight week, the blockbuster topped the weekend box office, and it did so with the best weekend-to-weekend drop for a domestic #1 in 2026. People are clearly loving the movie, and we'll have plenty more coverage in the days and weeks to come here on CinemaBlend.

While Ryland Grace and Rocky have the spotlight for most of Project Hail Mary, there's another character in the book-to-screen adaptation that fascinates me. Admittedly, I came to appreciate the complexity of Eva Stratt through rereads of Andy Weir's novel, but learning this bit of information about the character from the movie has me wishing for a spinoff -- either a film or a TV show -- that would focus on Sandra Hüller's character.

There's no way to talk about this without getting into major spoilers from Project Hail Mary (the film and the book). If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, I strongly suggest doing so, or consider yourself warned!

Eva Stratt's Role In Project Hail Mary

Stratt is at the center of the early part of Project Hail Mary, as she's the person coordinating the global effort to figure out how to save the sun from the star-devouring astrophage. It's made very clear in the book and fairly clear in the movie that she has carte blanche to make sure whoever is saving the world has whatever they need to do it -- and in the case of Ryland's fate, as we learn throughout the story, to make sure that the world has whoever it needs to save it. I'm not sure that the words "by any means necessary" are used by Eva Stratt, but that does seem to be her mindset as she moves from decision to decision without flinching.

Stratt's Tattoo

At the end of Project Hail Mary (the film), we get a glimpse of an older-looking Eva Stratt on a boat somewhere cold. She's watching a video Ryland Grace sent her, introducing her to Rocky and giving her an Eridian farewell, along with instructions and everything else humanity needs to kill the astrophage that's eating the sun. She takes a moment to appreciate Grace's parting gifts, and then quickly gets to work. But apparently this scene tells a bit more about the character.

Based on what directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller told Slashfilm, Eva's tattoo is a subtle hint of what's been going on with her in the years since the Hail Mary left Earth. As Miller put it:

Why was Stratt imprisoned? Lord's explanation there is that people on earth weren't cooperating, and at some point, the governments turned on Stratt and "dragged her before a criminal court," which resulted in her being sentenced to life in prison. So, the Stratt we're seeing at the end of the movie is a woman who's since escaped and is still trying to save the world. As alarming as that may sound, book-readers may remember that this was pretty much the outcome Stratt predicted aloud when talking to Grace.

In Weir's novel, she explains that her authority ends once the Hail Mary leaves Earth. When Grace questions whether or not she's concerned about that, she says:

I need to see more from this character.

The Project Hail Mary Spinoff Movie Or TV Show I Want To See

I've written previously about how Stratt's final scene in the movie was not in the book. Because we're in Ryland Grace's POV in the novel, we don't get to see the beetles delivering his findings or Stratt's reaction to Ryland and Rocky. The movie gifts us that snippet as part of the conclusion, but there's so much the film doesn't reveal. Taking into account the film's evident acknowledgement that Stratt's been through it on earth, I really want to know and see more!

This is all just my wishful thinking at this point, but here are a few things I'd love to see a spinoff focus on, starting with Stratt's story.

Stratt's Story (And The Strattoo Origin Tale)

Let's start with what Lord and Miller say about Eva's tattoo -- the Strattoo, as I'm unashamedly calling it. I would love to see some or all of what she went through after the Hail Mary left Earth. From the sound of it, she was made to answer for the decisions she made to get the Hail Mary off the ground. Keeping in mind that it would be years before they even knew if anyone survived the trip, let alone found a solution to the problem, it'd be interesting to see the fallout on Stratt's end (especially considering we know that she would eventually be vindicated). I'd love to see how she gets broken out of prison and what she's been up to in the time since.

What's Going On Around Earth

We know things are going to go from bad to worse on Earth as the sun's light continues to dim. In addition to seeing what Stratt is dealing with, I think it would also make sense for part of the story to focus on the state of earth over the years. I realize we've seen plenty of apocalyptic stories in film and television, some better than others, but in the case of a Project Hail Mary spinoff, there's an actual light at the end of this tunnel. We know Grace's findings will make it back to Earth eventually, but over the course of years since he left, the people on Earth don't. A spinoff could show us the effects of Earth cooling and how humanity deals with it while desperately hoping something comes back from the Hail Mary.

Advancements In Astrophage

Once the Hail Mary leaves Earth, our understanding of Astrophage is limited to Grace's understanding of it. While he is able to figure out quite a few things, including discovering a Tau Cetian predator that can be used to destroy it en masse, we have no idea what the scientists on Earth have uncovered about the star-eating life-form. We know it can be used for energy, and there's undoubtedly potential there. If it's truly a sci-fi spinoff, I would love to see more of the science from the story explored. It would be interesting to see the use (or misuse) of astrophage as scientists and other organizations continue to study it, and what kind of impact that has on any number of things.

Like I said, this could all be wishful thinking, as there are no plans that we know of for any kind of PHM spinoff as of this writing, but I needed to put it out there. I want more Stratt! And the more I think about her side of the story, the more potential I can see in a spinoff. I loved Ryland Grace's story, and I'd love to see a sequel that brings him and Rocky together on page or screen again (and learn more about Eridians and their technology), but a spinoff focused on Stratt and humanity's efforts to survive a cooling planet could be amazing, and provide layers of new context to Stratt's final scene in the movie.

When designing space ships in movies, it’s forgivable when artists opt to make something that looks cool instead of something perfectly realistic. After all, it’s not like anyone is going to try and bring the designs into functional reality; their principal purpose is to make audiences ooh and ahh. Because Project Hail Mary qualifies as “hard sci-fi,” however, the expectations are naturally a little bit different – and in reflection of that, I love all of the thought that went into the design of the Blip A, the alien behemoth piloted by Rocky.

The Blip A doesn’t have an interesting name (Eridians don’t name their ships, and it simply popped up with that label on the Hail Mary’s radar), but it does have a fascinating look, and it’s the result of a lot of in-depth conversations. When CinemaBlend sat down with directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller during the Project Hail Mary press day, the filmmakers discussed the amount of thought that went into adapting the ship from author Andy Weir’s book and having its verisimilitude match everything else in the blockbuster. Miller singled out one of their collaborators specifically, saying,

I absolutely love this explanation of the long strings on the Blip A. Because Eridians don’t have eyes and speak through musical notes, their communication is naturally going to be different than what humans have, and it makes all the sense in the world that their devices for communication would be akin to instruments.

Not only is the interior of the Blip A super cool, what’s particularly special about the presentation of the ship in the film is that it’s not really rooted in material from the book: the sequence where Ryan Gosling’s Ryland Grace goes into Rocky’s vessel wearing a xenonite suit doesn’t happen in the novel, meaning that movie audiences are gifted with a special peek inside that readers of the book never got.

Based on Chris Miller’s comments, it sounds like the scene with Grace and Rocky aboard the Blip A is going to be one that audiences should pause and investigate when the film eventually arrives on home video. I’ll definitely want to check out those carvings and work to interpret their meaning… though I would also love it if digital and physical media releases have a commentary track that lets the directors point out at some specific details that viewers might otherwise miss.

For now, audiences are encouraged to simply go and see Project Hail Mary in theaters as many times as possible, as it’s most certainly a blockbuster intended to be seen on the biggest screen imaginable. The film dominated at the box office last weekend, setting a record for new releases in 2016, and it’s expected to do the same in the days ahead.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Project Hail Mary. If you have not yet seen the film, proceed at your own risk – or perhaps instead opt to read CinemaBlend's spoiler-free Project Hail Mary review.

When it comes to the changes made adapting Project Hail Mary for the big screen, I understand the vast majority of them. There is simply too much material in the book for it all to be realized on screen, and that means that screenwriter Drew Goddard and directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller had to make some notable cuts. But while I get simplifying the docking procedure for the Hail Mary and the Blip A and eliminating the sequence where Antarctica is purposefully bombed to slow the cooling of the planet, there is one major alteration that I was not only surprised to see, but I think is a detriment to the telling of the story: the third act crisis with Grace's food supply.

For those who either haven't read the Andy Weir-authored novel or simply need a refresher because it's been a minute since you did, let's start with a quick rewind…

Grace's Food Supply Is A Major Problem In The Final Chapters Of Project Hail Mary

As is repeatedly noted in both the book and film versions of Project Hail Mary, Grace's trip to Tau Ceti is designed to be a suicide mission, and that has an impact on the ship's inventory. The movie addresses this with a conversation between the protagonist and Rocky about Hail Mary's Astrophage fuel supply (the alien is able to solve the problem because of extra Astrophage available aboard the Blip A), but there is no mention in the adaptation about how much food he has available, and that's a huge deal in the source material.

Because both Yao and Ilyukhina die during the trip, Grace has three times the amount of solid food he would otherwise have when he arrives at the Hail Mary's destination – but even with all of that extra nourishment, there isn't enough to last the long journey back to Earth. He also can't eat Rocky's food from Erid, as it is filled with toxins that would kill him. The only solution he has for nutrition is what he refers to as "coma slurry," which was supplied to him when he was unconscious during the initial journey and has a taste he compares to aspirin.

Not wanting to risk going back into a coma, Grace opts for trying to live off the slurry on his way back home after he and Rocky part ways… but then the Taumoeba leak happens. Both the book and the movie depict this crisis: the protagonist is forced to choose between returning home or simply sending his findings back to Earth while he goes to find and save his friend. The end result is the same in both versions, but because the film never features any kind of discussion about Grace's food supply, the stakes are very different and the character's atonement for past sins isn't as powerful on screen as it is on the page.

In The Book, Grace's Trip To Save Rocky Is A Chosen Suicide Mission With Proper Redemption For The Apprehensive Astronaut

At the end of the second act in Project Hail Mary, a recalled memory changes everything that we know about the character. While Grace spends most of his mission under the impression that he sacrificed his life to try and save Earth (the ultimate hero move), the reality is that he was a coward who had to be drugged and dragged on to the ship after the scientist lined up to be on the crew and his backup were killed during an accident. By the time he figures out the truth, he is too invested in the work to do any kind of protest.

This, of course, is vitally important to keep in mind when it comes to the choice he makes between going to Earth and saving Rocky – but the fact that the food issue isn't brought up in the movie makes the decision far different from the book. In the adaptation, Grace is depicted merely giving up his chances of seeing his home planet again; in the source material, he comes to terms with dying so that he can save Earth, Erid, and his best friend, as even the coma slurry supply is going to eventually run out.

But it's not a sad ending. When Grace re-finds Rocky and explains that he has no chance of survival, his friend again gives him a lifeline: while he will soon run out of human food and can't eat Eridian food, one thing on his ship with nutritional value that he can eat is Taumoeba. It doesn't prove to be the healthiest meal plan, and it results in him being a bit sickly for a time, but it keeps him alive until he gets to Erid, and when he gets there, scientists are eventually able to provide him with a proper protein-rich diet of what he calls "Me Burgers": burgers with meat synthesized from his own flesh.

Is the novel's ending a touch grosser than the movie's? Most definitely. But I also think it is much more effective in executing a redemption for Grace because of the simplicity of the one-to-one comparison: in two instances he is presented with the moral choice to sacrifice himself for the greater good, and while he fails in the first instance, he makes proper amends in the second.

To be sure, adding this material from the book to the movie would have made it longer, and at 156 minutes, Project Hail Mary is pretty damn long as it is. With that being said, I definitely find this particular cut in the adaptation process to be surprising and to the detriment of the movie, and should we someday see an extended cut come together (which we saw happen with Ridley Scott's adaptation of Andy Weir's The Martian), I'd be hopeful to see that stuff put back in.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Project Hail Mary. If you have not yet seen the film, proceed at your own risk!

A big part of what makes Project Hail Mary (both the movie and Andy Weir's superb novel) such a satisfying story is seeing characters confronted with conflicts and work methodically and intelligently to solve them. Alien microbe eating the sun? Figure out what it is and why it's doing what it's doing. Find a distant sun that's unaffected by said microbe? Find a way to travel there. Find the microbe's predator but need to adjust its atmospheric tolerances? Perform selective breeding experiments. Like The Martian (also sourced to Weir), it makes hard science compelling, cool… and sometimes a bit weird.

It can be said that just about all of the most important parts of the source material are kept intact for the big screen experience, making Project Hail Mary a mostly successful adaptation of the book, but there's some standout cut material that I miss, including what can unequivocally be called the nastiest aspect of the ending. Folks who are familiar with the novel surely already know what I'm here to talk about: me burgers.

For those who haven't read the book, I'll briefly explain: when Grace makes the decision to send the beetles off to Earth with Taumoeba so that he can go rescue Rocky and every living thing on Erid, he does so thinking that he is once again going on a suicide mission. The food supply aboard the Hail Mary is limited, and there are too many poisonous materials in Rocky's food for him to safely eat. He is happy to die knowing that he managed to save life on two planets – but then Rocky comes up with the solution for him to eat Taumoeba.

Early during his stay on Erid, Grace lives entirely off of Tamoeba, but that changes when scientists develop a solution. They take a sample of his muscle tissue, replicate it, and process it as a meat that he can consume. So when he references "me burgers," it's a discussion of burgers he is eating where the patty is technically made out of his own ground human flesh. There is no getting around the word "cannibal."

Is this totally disgusting? You'll get no argument from me; referring back to the headline will remind you that I think this is super gross. That being said, I also think it's both fascinating and necessary for the story. On the former front, it's a perfect illustration of the kind of problem solving that makes Andy Weir's writing so much fun. And as for the latter, the whole question of "What is Grace eating while living on Erid?" is left unaddressed, and that's a reasonable plot hole that movie-goers shouldn't have to go back to the source material to answer.

At the end of the day, I don't know why it was cut (One detail too many for the two-and-a-half hour-long feature? No proper way to deliver the exposition? Perhaps it was too intense an idea for a PG-13 blockbuster?), but I do know I wish it was left in.

Project Hail Mary -- the Ryan Gosling-led 2026 movie schedule entry -- is sure to excite book lovers and sci-fi fans alike. It follows the story of a high school science teacher who wakes up on a spaceship with no memory, but soon discovers he has an important mission to undertake. Given the premise of this book-to-screen adaptation, there's a lot of science involved, and directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller asked astronomer Neil DeGrasse Tyson for his thoughts on whether they nailed that material.

An esteemed astrophysicist, Neil DeGrasse Tyson has no problem discussing whether a movie is scientifically accurate. Phil Lord and Chris Miller recently spoke with Sirius XM's Julia Cunningham and recalled asking Tyson for his reaction to Project Hail Mary, which is based on Andy Weir's 2021 book of the same name. Tyson apparently attended a premiere, as Lord and Miller explained to Cunningham:

• Julia Cunningham: At any point was Neil deGrasse Tyson just brought in as a consultant?
• Phil Lord: He was at the party last night.
• Julia Cunningham: He was?
• Phil Lord: And we all mugged him.
• Christopher Miller: We’re like, ‘So how did we do? How did we do?’
• Julia Cunningham: Yes. What did he say?
• Christopher Miller: He said we got the science right. We passed the Neil deGrasse Tyson test, yeah.
• Julia Cunningham: You know, because don't get him started on Armageddon.
• Christopher Miller: I know. Thank god.
• Julia Cunningham: Literally, he's like, ‘You can just kick that asteroid out of the way.’ Look it up.

I'm reminded of the time Neil DeGrasse Tyson roasted Armageddon for its outlandish way of handling the asteroid hitting Earth. With that brutally honest assessment in mind, it’s a huge relief that he’s giving Project Hail Mary a thumbs up.

Seriously, Neil DeGrasse Tyson has had plenty of bones to pick with certain sci-fi movies. He fact-checked Gravity and made note of its many space law flubs, dubbing it “Angular Momentum.” Tyson also tore into Interstellar and felt Star Wars didn’t get the science right. While the StarTalk host wasn’t on the set of Project Hail Mary, there was one astrophysicist who was willing to lend a scientific hand:

• Ryan Gosling: That’s where Andy Weir—I love this story about Andy—is that he said he knew that he was different when he was watching Titanic and when Jack dies, he thought, ‘Those aren't the constellations that would be above them right now.’
• Julia Cunningham: Oh my god.
• Ryan Gosling: Anyway, so we wanted... like, that's where Andy comes from. That's why he started writing his own stories. All of those things are important to him. Neil deGrasse didn't come to set, unfortunately, but Brian Cox did.
• Julia Cunningham: Okay.
• Ryan Gosling: So, we got to pick his brain a little bit.
• Julia Cunningham: Legendary actor Brian Cox or—
• Ryan Gosling: No. Astrophysicist.
• Julia Cunningham: Astrophysicist. I was like, ‘Wow, legendary actor Brian Cox.’ I was like, ‘Did he have a lot of insight?’

It's good thing Brian Cox (the astrophysicist, not the actor) was there. Of course, any science-based movie may have to take some liberties for the sake of its narrative, but it's quite impressive that Miller, Lord and co. managed to keep everything tight enough that even Tyson was impressed.

Given that they passed the "Tyson test," Lord and Miller have achieved something that even James Cameron missed at one point. Tyson said the real problem with Titanic’s ending was that a poor artist survivor like Jack should have tried multiple times to get him and Rose to fit on the door. But I do find it funny that Tyson was able to notice the constellations in that scene.

Project Hail Mary blasted off on opening night with $11 million domestically, which bodes well for its box office run Science fans who have already booked their tickets (or are thinking about it) may be comforted by Neil DeGrasse Tyson's scientific seal of approval. Looks like Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s mission for their movie was a success—especially if its box office continues to climb. You can watch the Andy Weir-adapted flick in theaters now.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Project Hail Mary. If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, proceed at your own risk! (and perhaps check out CinemaBlend's spoiler-free Project Hail Mary review)

No adaptation is perfect. Any medium change for a story is going to require alterations – and that means making up for something that can't be done or taking advantage of things that can. Every effort can be made to ensure maximum faithfulness, but "maximum" is not perfection, and fans of Andy Weir's novel Project Hail Mary will find that to be true in directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller's new blockbuster starring Ryan Gosling.

Watching the critically acclaimed film, I couldn't help but take note of the deviations, cuts, and additions made in the book-to-film process, and I've compiled a list of 16 standout differences.

Grace Doesn't Go Back To The Classroom Following His Early Astrophage Discoveries

At chronological start of the story, Ryland Grace is initially brought into the Astrophage experiments because he doesn't believe in the idea of the "Goldilocks zone" being necessary for extraterrestrial life… but then his theory is readily disproven when he discovers that the aliens eating the sun are water based. In the movie, he refuses to be dismissed after this revelation and remains a part of the operation, but in the book, he only goes back to what becomes Project Hail Mary when he returns to his class and has a revelation that his students are part of the generation that will most be devastatingly affected.

The Sahara Desert Isn't Transformed Into A Large-Scale Astrophage Breeding Farm

In both the book and the movie, Grace is the one who figures out the process for breeding Astrophage, and he teaches his methods to scientists around the world so that the microscopic aliens can be multiplied and used as fuel for the Hail Mary. What the adaptation skips over, however, is the process in the source material that maximizes reproduction, which involves a criminal engineer and covering the Sahara Desert in solar panels.

Stratt’s Karaoke Performance Is New

There are very few full-on additions featured in the movie version of Project Hail Mary, but one special scene is included to soften the edges of Sandra Hüller's Eva Stratt. Her hardcore focus on saving the world results in a rough bluntness in the book, but her karaoke performance of the Harry Styles song "Sign of the Times."

Antarctica Isn't Bombed To Slow Global Cooling

Here we have another part of the book completely excised for the film: the risk that Astrophage poses to Earth is consuming so much energy from the sun that the planet dangerously cools, and one controversial tool utilized in the effort to save the world is global warming. A way to stall the effects is by accelerating climate change, and that's accomplished by bombing Antarctica and releasing stored CO2 and methane.

The Details Of The Coma Technology Are Skipped

Because of the amount of time it takes for a ship to fly to Tau Ceti and because of the small confines of the Hail Mary, it's decided in Project Hail Mary to have chosen astronauts be in induced comas during the trip – but that details is approached very differently in the movie compared to the book. In the source material, only a very small number of people have the genetic markings required to survive the induced coma, which severely limits the pool of potential crew members. Tests reveal Grace to be a suitable candidate, which is why he is chosen to be on the ship after the primary scientist and his backup are killed.

The Process Of Connecting The Blip A To The Hail Mary Is Simplified

When it comes to the Blip A connecting to the Hail Mary in the movie, the former extends a xenonite tunnel that latches on to the latter's air lock. That's a much more simplified version of what happens in the book. As written by Andy Weir, the tunnel doesn't extend until after Grace breaks off a part of his own ship so that he can send a sample of the metal to the mysterious aliens.

Discussion Of The Beatles Is Minimized

The "beetles" remain a key part of the story in the film adaptation of Project Hail Mary, but it doesn't give them the same kind of spotlight that the book does. A whole scene isn't included that sees Grace learn about the mini Astrophage-powered ships from the nerdy man who both designed and named them.

Much Less Time Is Dedicated To Chain Building

Both the book and the movie versions have Grace and Rocky work together to create a long chain that will ultimately allow them to scoop up Taumoeba from Adrian's atmosphere… but there's a big difference in how much time it takes. The duo has to create miles and miles and miles of chain, and while the time it takes them to do this practically drives them nuts in the novel, it's not depicted as much of a strain in the film.

There Isn't An Initial Taumoeba Leak They Have To Fix

The Hail Mary is nearly destroyed after the successful acquisition of Taumoeba, with power systems failing and intense gravity nearly resulting in Grace being crushed – but the movie skips over another disaster that happens around that time: a Taumoeba leak that sees all of the ship's fuel get devoured. Fortunately, the protagonist is able to use Astrophage from the beetles to fly back to the Blip A and refuel.

There's No Talk For Selective Breeding Of Taumoeba For Threeworld

This is just a straight-up oddity: when Grace is performing selective breeding of Taumoeba so that they can survive more nitrogen-rich atmospheres, there is discussion of ensuring that the Astrophage predator can exist on Venus, but there is no talk of the organism surviving on Threeworld (the Venus-equivalent in Rocky's home solar system).

Grace Doesn't Get Loopy From Pain Pills/Nearly Kill Rocky By Accident

The book and movie versions of Project Hail Mary feature the dramatic plot point where Rocky leaves his enclosure to save Grace's life, but the latter leaves out a few details from the aftermath. Grace doesn't have to treat any burns from Rocky's touch, which means that he doesn't get a bit loopy on pain meds and try to save his friend's life. In the novel, he blows air into the alien's carapace to remove what he perceives as gunk, but Rocky eventually tells him that the action could have killed him.

The Blip A Gets A Visit From Grace

Here we have another notable addition: in the book, Grace can never board the Blip A because it's decided that the combination of heat, pressure and atmosphere would instantly kill him, but the movie skirts around that by having Rocky build Grace a xenonite suit that he can clumsily travel in.

Grace's Food Supply Isn't Brought Up As A Problem

This is one of the bigger omissions from the movie: when Grace realizes that his trip is no longer a suicide mission in the book, one of the big problems he faces is figuring out his food supply. He has extra real food because of Yao and Ilyukhina prematurely dying, but the only other nutrition available aboard is "coma slurry" that is described as tasting like aspirin. When he then makes the decision to save Rocky, it's with the knowledge that he is going to starve to death, as Eridian food is poisonous to him, but he is saved when it's discovered that he can consume Taumoeba.

Grace Hasn't Visibly Aged During His Time On Erid

Remember that deadly heat, pressure and atmosphere I mentioned on the Blip A? All of that also exists on Rocky's home planet of Erid, but it doesn't have the effect on Grace in the movie that it does in the book when he takes up residency there. In both versions, of course, he has breathable air and survivable temperature in his environments, but the book has him a bit physically worse for wear because of the extra gravity on the planet making it harder for him to move.

No Me Burgers

Remember that food problem? There's an extra wrinkle to it. In the book, Grace is eventually able to consume more than just Taumoeba because Eridian scientists replicate a sample of his muscle tissue to create meat that he can consume. He calls them "Me Burgers" because he is essentially performing cannibalism.

We See Eva Stratt On Earth

At the end of the book, we learn about the fate of Earth because Eridian scientists tell Grace that the energy level of the Sun is restored – but the movie goes a bit further than that. The scene with Eva Stratt getting the material from the Hail Mary is brand new, as is the Eridian gesture for goodbye that she learns.

Project Hail Mary is now playing in theaters everywhere.

In the months leading up to the release of Project Hail Mary, many questions were asked about the voice of the alien hero Rocky – and that really only intensified with the release of the final trailer last month, which features a scene where the character is given the chance to select what he wants to sound like. There has been much speculation about cameos in the movie (with Emma Stone being a name that's been thrown out on social media), but we got some clarity on the situation recently speaking with directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller.

Rocky is ultimately voiced in the 2026 movie by James Ortiz, who was also the character's lead puppeteer during production, but CinemaBlend's Jeff McCobb asked the filmmakers about other familiar folks audiences should try and listen for in the aforementioned voice selection scene. They had not personally heard the rumor about Emma Stone, but they did namedrop a talent that should excite fans of the book. Discussing talk about the multi Oscar-winner being in the film, they said,

• Phil Lord: Oh, I have not [heard about that]. Have you heard this?
• Chris Miller: I have not heard this, but do you want us to tell you if that's true or not?... It's not true. But there is... But Ray Porter is one of them, I can tell you that.

Ray Porter is a veteran actor with credits that go back to the 1990s in shows like Murphy Brown, ER, and Frasier, but he is specifically well-known to many Project Hail Mary fans because he does the narration for the audiobook, and he does an absolutely phenomenal job – with proof being that the book won the Audie Award for Audiobook of the Year in 2022.

The Project Hail Mary directors didn't discuss the major A-lister who is directly identified as one of the voices in the film (I won't name them here in an effort to maintain the surprise for audiences during opening weekend), but Phil Lord and Chris Miller did reveal some other names who participated in the Rocky voice process and discussed a fun game they played with Ryan Gosling on set:

• Phil Lord: Stunt coordinator, Eunice Houghton [is one of the voices].
• Chris Miller: One of the fun things we did was we had, we had people from the crew, and secret people would say the line in Ryan's ear so that he could hear different versions and react to them naturally. And we had a whole lineup of people, including, it wasn't in the film, but his daughter, who was visiting set that day. We had her secretly say the line and got him to really crack up.

That story very much represents the general fun energy of Project Hail Mary, and everyone will be able to experience it themselves this weekend with the critically acclaimed film's arrival in theaters everywhere.

Adapting books as movies has been in practice for pretty much as long as the latter have existed, but the reality is that the two mediums have very different and independent storytelling capacities. There’s the matter of perspective: prose can take a reader into the minds of characters in ways in which films aren’t capable (without violently abusing voice over narration at least). And then there’s the matter of scope: there is no real limit for the length of a novel, but a feature is expected to be three hours at maximum (and the average is about an hour shorter). A perfectly faithful adaptation is an impossibility.

I have been reminding myself of all those facts for the last two years – which is the amount of time I spent between finishing Project Hail Mary by author Andy Weir and awaiting the adaptation from directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller. I adore the novel and always recognized a movie version would be difficult. In addition to its length and plot complexity, it sports a non-linear narrative built on the protagonist’s recovered memories. I’ve always had complete confidence in the work of the talented Lord and Miller (not to mention screenwriter Drew Goddard)... but I’ve also known that my experience watching the film would be a study of alterations, cuts, and general comparisons.

My conclusion: I hate to be the “book is better” guy, but a few dings to an otherwise phenomenal story still makes for a really great film.

There are some key excised elements that are missed, a lesser degree of competency porn than expected, and what feel like some missed opportunities, but what’s retained is a fascinating and compelling hard sci-fi trip across the universe that keeps a special extraterrestrial friendship as its heartbeat.

Ryan Gosling stars as Ryland Grace – a middle school teacher who wakes from a coma to find himself alone in an interstellar spacecraft called the Hail Mary that is orbiting the distant star known as Tau Ceti. At first confused and panicked with no memory of how he got there, he soon begins to recall why he is in such extreme circumstances. A mysterious microscopic lifeform dubbed Astrophage is discovered to be consuming energy from the Sun, and should their activity go unimpeded, the consequence would be the Earth cooling and experiencing an extinction event. Tau Ceti is the only studied star seemingly not dimming because of Astrophage, so Grace is sent as part of a team to understand why.

His two crewmates (Ken Leung, Milana Vayntrub) die during the journey, but the amateur astronaut doesn’t end up being isolated for long. The Hail Mary’s radar picks up the presence of another, much more massive ship in the area, and after an initial fear reaction, the protagonist ends up becoming best friends with a five-legged, dog-sized, rock spider-esque alien he names Rocky (James Ortiz).

The relationship between Grace and Rocky is just as wonderful as it is in the book.

Regardless of anything else, I knew that I would appreciate Project Hail Mary so long as it properly brought to life the phenomenal dynamic between Grace and Rocky, and the adaptation doesn’t disappoint. Say what you will about the credulity of a guy who looks like Ryan Gosling being an introverted scientist, the actor’s proven and effortless charm is perfectly utilized, and all of the emotions that he wears on his sleeve reflect the audience’s as we witness Grace’s relationship with Rocky develop – he is first terrified to discover a sentient alien being, then captivated by his new friend’s intelligence, biology and sociology, and then deeply invested in his survival and the survival of his world.

Gosling has the significant challenge of his primary scene partner being a puppet (one that doesn’t have a face, no less), but solely praising the Barbie star would be a disservice to the phenomenal work of James Ortiz, who is both the voice of Rocky and was the lead puppeteer on set. Just as in the book, the character is a brilliant goofball, but Goddard’s script does a fun job of also amping his blunt bossiness to successful comedic effect.

Project Hail Mary is every ounce the spectacle that it should be thanks to practical sets and effects.

Thanks to beautifully expressive puppeteering, there is never a single moment with Rocky on screen when you think that he is anything other than a living, breathing alien, which also adds greater verity to Gosling’s performance – but I feel like it’s also important to laud the production’s dedication to practical effects. It is far, far too common nowadays to watch sci-fi movies and television shows with shots that clearly just have performers working on chroma key sets, which are distracting and look cheap, but Project Hail Mary has an extra authenticity lent to it because everything seems tactile.

This isn’t a knock on the movie’s visual effects either, because there is plenty of brilliance in that realm as well. Lord and Miller and the artists working under them include a number of interstellar shots that are not simply jaw-dropping in their beauty but reflect the stunning immensity of the cosmos. The deep love for the mystery and expanse of the universe that is featured in the book is well-reflected in the blockbuster’s cinematography.

Effort is appreciated, but I can’t help but miss the parts of the book that didn’t make the cut for the movie.

The film looks like what I saw in my mind reading the book, and while Sandra Hüller’s Eva Stratt doesn’t quite have the coarseness of her literary counterpart, the various characters’ journeys are exactly what they need to be for the big screen experience. I’m very happy with it as a presentation of Andy Weir’s novel… but I also can’t help but miss a variety of things that Drew Goddard had to take out.

A lot of on-ship issues that Grace and Rocky face in the novel end up being skipped, and while all of the big plot points are still included and the cuts are effective in keeping the story moving, it means that Project Hail Mary isn’t nearly as satisfying as The Martian (the previous Goddard-scripted Weir adaptation) when it comes to “using science to solve problems.” There are also significantly fewer flashbacks, meaning a major reduction in the colorful characters we meet as humanity tries to stop the Astrophage-driven apocalypse, and the film is also much less effective in presenting the flashbacks as recovered memories. Nothing that is absolutely needed is missing, but I would blissfully watch a four-hour cut with all of it put back in.

I’ll admit that my opinions here may change with time. If I rewatch Project Hail Mary in a year, I may be able to better view it independently from the book and appreciate it more for what it includes instead of dinging it for what it lacks. But for right now, my deep appreciation for the book heavily colors the way in which I take in the movie, and I expect others who feel the same way are going to have a matching reaction.

There was a time when Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse was supposed to come out just one year after Across the Spider-Verse’s 2023 release. Instead, the final chapter of the Spider-Verse trilogy is now slotted for summer 2027, and it’s entirely possible the release plan could change yet again. Beyond the Spider-Verse producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller opened up about the lengthy delays, as well as discussed the “pressure” they feel to get the upcoming Spider-Man movie right.

Why Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse Has Been Delayed So Long

In addition to producing all the Spider-Verse movies, Phil Lord co-wrote the first movie with Rodney Rothman, and then Lord and Miller worked with Dave Callaham on the second movie’s screenplay. So these two go way back with Marvel’s Web-Slinger, and if the quality of their work isn’t enough of an indication, they want any movies about him to be of exceptional quality. That’s why it’s been necessary for Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse to be frequently delayed, with Chris Miller telling Gizmodo:

Development on an Into the Spider-Verse sequel was announced a month ahead of the movie hitting theaters, and by February 2021, Phil Lord and Chris Miller decided that the story they wanted to tell should be split into two movies. The problem is that with double the runtime, there wasn’t enough to pad out that second movie, hence why a summer 2024 release for Beyond the Spider-Verse was no longer doable. Lord added:

When we left off with Miles Morales at the end of Across the Spider-Verse, he’d accidentally ended up on Earth-42, the world from where the spider that bit him originated. He was soon captured by his Earth-42 counterpart, who became The Prowler, and that Miles’ Uncle Aaron, while it was revealed that Earth-42’s Jeff was dead. Meanwhile, The Spot began attacking Earth-1610’s New York City, and Gwen Stacy assembled a team to find the main Miles. That’s a lot to follow up on in Beyond the Spider-Verse!

Lord And Miller Are Feeling The Beyond The Spider-Verse Pressure

Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse rank as not just two of the best Spider-Man movies, but also some of the most beloved superhero movies of all time. So there’s a lot riding on Beyond the Spider-Verse bringing this trilogy to a satisfying close, and Phil Lord and Chris Miller are well aware about how important it is to stick the landing. As Miller said:

However, Phil Lord also said that it’s been important for the creatives working on Beyond the Spider-Verse to take risks, because the ones that work can help make the movie stand out even more. In his words:

We’ll see how the final product comes together when Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse hits theaters on June 18, 2027. In the meantime, not only are Phil Lord and Chris Miller credited as executive producers on Spider-Noir, the Nicolas Cage-led series releasing on MGM+ and Prime Video at the end of May, their next directorial effort, Project Hail Mary, arrives to the 2026 movies schedule on March 20.

As somebody who counts The Martian among my favorite movies of the 21st century, and one of the best sci-fi movies ever, I have certainly been excited about the book-to-screen adaptation of Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary. The trailer for the film has been setting up the audience for an emotional journey, and now that a number of high-profile names in Hollywood have seen the flick, I’m getting even more excited.

The rest of us must still wait a month for the release of Project Hail Mary on the 2026 movie schedule, but it was recently screened for an audience that contained the likes of director Edgar Wright, Josh Gad, and more Hollywood names. Wright took to X to welcome directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller back to live-action movies, and their return is apparently stunning. The Shaun of the Dead director said in part…

Wright went on to praise screenwriter Drew Goddard, stars Ryan Gosling and Sandra Hüller, and more aspects of the film. It sounds like IMAX may be the way to see this one due to the film’s epic scale.

Fans of the book written by Andy Weir have been vocally upset by the marketing for the book-to-screen adaptation of Project Hail Mary, as some feel the trailers give away a major spoiler in the story. However, several of the people who saw the movie had read the book before, and they certainly didn’t seem to feel knowledge of the events spoiled anything. On Instagram, Josh Gad said…

Actor Ken Jeong seemingly hasn’t read the book based on his Instagram comments. However, his wife had, and they both absolutely loved Project Hail Mary. He’s the second person to call the movie a “masterpiece” and the second to focus on the humanity of the story. He said…

Considering that Phil Lord and Chris Miller have made me cry over Spider-Man and LEGOs, I’m fully expecting Project Hail Mary to be an emotional experience. These directors have a nearly spotless track record of greatness, but this may be their best work. Actor Paul Scheer certainly thinks so as he posted to X…

Project Hail Mary was already one of the 2026 movies I was most excited for, but now I’m going to have a hard time waiting for this one to open. My expectations have been raised, but based on this feedback, I certainly expect my expectations to still be met when I sit down in the theater on March 20 to see the movie for myself.

When Across The Spider-Verse left us with that cliffhanger ending in the summer of 2023, Beyond The Spider-Verse was due to hit theaters less than a year later in March 2024. Cut to it being nearly two years since that previous release date and we’re still awaiting the next Spider-Verse sequel. Will next summer finally bring us the next chapter? Sony Pictures Animation presidents Kristine Belson and Damien de Froberville have shared updates on what’s going on with it.

As of late, Beyond The Spider-Verse co-writers and producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller have been splitting their focus between the new installment and helming Project Hail Mary, which was shot in late 2024 and hits theaters next month. Here’s what de Froberville said about how that’s affected the production to The Hollywood Reporter:

As announced in late 2024, Lord and Miller left directing duties to Bob Persichetti and Justin K. Thompson during their work on Project Hail Mary, but have been splitting up their duties between the two movies. Persichetti co-helmed Into The Spider-Verse and Thompson was a co-director on Across the Spider-Verse.

The two Spider-Verse sequels were initially supposed to come out close to one another when Lord and Miller started production on both films at the same time. But when Across reportedly proved to be a more ambitious film, resources went completely to the sequel prior to its 2023 release. There were also allegedly some story elements of Beyond that got reworked quite a bit over the years, as well as the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike disturbing the movie’s production as well.

One animator also claimed Across “barely” made its own release date, and alleged 11-hour days seven days a week among the crew in order to make it. When the Sony Pictures Animation bosses were asked if there’s strains among the animators right now regarding Beyond The Spider-Verse making its summer 2027 release date, Belson said this:

De Froberville also added that some shifts have been made to Sony Picture Animation’s workflow since Across The Spider-Verse. In his words:

Beyond The Spider-Verse is set to come to theaters on June 18, 2027 – with the latest release date shift being made over the summer to play on more IMAX screens. As we count down the days until the movie closes out the Spider-Verse trilogy, you can see the latest Sony Pictures Animation movie, Goat, in theaters now. You can also check out what other upcoming Spider-Man movies and TV shows are on the way.

More often than not, when I hear that a movie has an especially long runtime, I brace myself, if I don't outright cringe. Longer does not always mean better, in my opinion, and the run time of a movie does have at least some impact on whether or not I will see it in the theater. But in the case of the Project Hail Mary movie, which arrives on the 2026 movie schedule in less than two months, either I'm so far beyond optimism about this movie based on how good it looks that the length of it can't make a dent in my anticipation, or I really do think it's a good thing that we're apparently in for a more-than-two-hour ride with this one.

On March 20th, the book-to-screen adaptation of Andy Weir's incredible sci-fi novel Project Hail Mary hits theaters. The film will star Ryan Gosling, and is directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Word of the movie's runtime recently made the rounds, with the Project Hail Mary Updates X account reporting that it was confirmed to them that the movie would be 2 hours and 36 minutes. Phil Lord reposted that news, and further clarified that the listed runtime does include credits:

The credits factoring in to the run time does actually make a difference, as the length of credits (particularly for a movie that's likely to have a substantial crew) can vary. For reference, The Martian (another Andy Weir book adaptation) has credits that run for about 8 minutes. So even if we guesstimate and round up to ten minutes for Project Hail Mary's credits, we're still looking at a movie that's more than two hours and twenty minutes.

Why I'm Not Complaining About The Runtime

Well, as I said, I might be too excited about this movie to think clearly at this point. My hopes are set so high that it'll be good, that more really could be better in this case. I'm also factoring in my love for the book. As an avid reader, I'm well aware that adaptations have to make changes to the plot in the process of bringing what's on the page to the screen. The movie (or TV show) is never going to be what we saw in our minds as we read. But I know I'm not alone in feeling the sting of seeing a beloved story and its characters cut down to something far less than what the book told me they were for the sake of time.

Taking the book into account (don't worry, no spoilers here), there's a lot to sort through, between Ryland Grace's thrilling world-saving mission and the events that set him on the path. In fact, after rereading the book, I came to appreciate just how important those earlier events leading up to the mission were for Ryland's character development even more. Understanding who he was before he set off on this mission helped me appreciate better the decisions he makes once he's on it.

All of this is to say, I really hope the lengthy runtime benefits the story and character development as much as it'll presumably benefit some of the more thrilling scenes, because I'm showing up for all of the above. In fact, I hope they make tickets available for pre-order soon, because someone please take my money already.

The rest of us normal people have to wait a couple of weeks before we get a chance to see Edgar Wright’s new adaptation of Stephen King’s The Running Man. This seems especially unfair because it feels like everybody else has already seen it. Stephen King has seen it. Arnold Schwarzenegger has seen it. Now it turns out a bunch of high-profile directors have also seen it.

According to World of Reel, a special screening of The Running Man was held on the Paramount lot last week, and it contained a who’s who of A-list directors, including Taika Waititi, Jordan Peele, Ti West, Joseph Kosinski, Barry Jenkins, J.T. Mollner, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Joe Dante, and Walter Hill. At least one of those directors has confirmed seeing the film, as Phl Lord tweeted about the movie saying…

Lord also complimented star Glen Powell, saying he “tears it up” and calling him “Hollywood’s hardest working mensch.” There’s certainly no hedging in this post. Lord clearly loved The Running Man, and while most of the rest of the crowd that allegedly saw the movie haven’t posted publicly, it’s a safe bet they have similar feelings, considering it seems everybody seems to love it.

The fact that Paramount made a point of showing the film to so many top-notch directors would seem to indicate a certain amount of confidence in the final product.

Lord’s comments echo those of other big names who have seen the film. Glen Powell recently revealed that Arnold Schwarzenegger called the movie “incredible.” Stephen King saw it and called it “fantastic” and “Die Hard for our time.” King, especially, will be honest when he doesn't love an adaptation of his work. Those are two voices that carry a lot of weight. Their endorsements will mean a lot to both fans of the original novel as well as the original adaptation.

With The Long Walk being released earlier this year to a lot of critical praise, it's been a good year for Stephen King adaptations so far. The Running Man certainly has a different one, but it sounds like it will have plenty to say.

The words of filmmakers like Phil Lord are likely to excite movie fans, regardless of their feelings about The Running Man alone. Edgar Wright's filmography is full of banger after banger. He's arguably never made a bad movie. He’s got a track record of some absolutely incredible films, and it sounds like The Running Man may simply be the latest in a long line of eccentric, but incredible movies.

I’m certainly excited to see The Running Man next week. All of this positive buzz from great talents is raising the bar for the movie quite high. If it’s really as good as everybody says, it’s going to be something special.

Of all the Star Wars movies that have been released so far, there’s only one that failed to turn a profit. 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, released just five months after The Last Jedi, earned a decent amount of positive critical reception (it certainly doesn’t deserve any hate), but only ended up around $393 million worldwide. Besides chronicling the origin story of Alden Ehrenreich’s younger Han, Solo is known for the behind the scenes shakeups that led to Ron Howard taking over directing the flick from Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Howard recently reflected on his period of his professional life, describing what happened as “a shame.”

While one director being hired to replace another who drops out ahead of principal photography is hardly uncommon, Solo’s switchover from Lord and Miller to Howard occurred after the Star Wars movie had been rolling cameras for six months. In an interview with Vulture, Howard recalled how Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy arranged for him to have breakfast with Solo producer Alli Shearmur and co-writer Jon Kasdan, which led to the following:

Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s dismissal from Solo: A Star Wars Story stemmed from creative differences, as the directing duo reportedly thought they were making a comedy movie, but Disney and Lucasfilm only wanted shades of humor. Between that, Lucasfilm not liking how Lord and Miller were frequently shooting additional takes with improvisational dialogue, and a handful of other issues, and it was ultimately decided that they were no longer a good fit for the movie. Just two days after Lord and Miller’s exit, Ron Howard was announced to be taking their place.

Though Ron Howard ultimately received sole directing credit for Solo, as he reportedly reshot about 70% of it, Phil Lord and Chris Miller were still credited as executive producers. As far as it was like on his end to take over helming duties, Howard said:

Set roughly 10 years prior to the events of A New Hope, Solo: A Star Wars Story depicted major events in the title character’s life, including meeting Joonas Suotamo’s Chewbacca and Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian, and winning the Millennium Falcon. Its lineup of new characters included Emilia Clarke’s Qi’ra (whom later resurfaced in the comics), Woody Harrelson’s Tobias Beckett and Paul Bettany’s Dryden Vos. Unfortunately, Solo’s dismal box office performance resulted in sequel plans being scrapped.

At least it sounds like Ron Howard had a pleasant enough time working on Solo, even though the circumstances behind his hiring were less than ideal. And hey, if Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian movie ever gets off the ground, that could easily be a platform for Alden Ehreneich to reprise Han in a supporting role.

There’s a lot of gorgeous Hollywood-born couples in Tinseltown, but I was just reminded why Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes might be my favorite of them all: the first trailer for Gosling’s new movie Project Hail Mary came out last week, and it instantly became one of the most highly-anticipated upcoming 2026 movies for many. But how Mendes celebrated the movie’s big trailer record has me swooning over the couple all over again.

Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes fell in love on the set of indie movie The Place Beyond The Pines back in 2011, and have been together ever since. I love how nearly 15 years later the actress is supporting her hubby’s work by posting the following on her Instagram:

The actress helped reveal that Project Hail Mary has already racked up 400 million views during its first week online, becoming “the most viewed trailer for an original film” that’s not a sequel or a remake. Per Deadline, it’s also Amazon MGM Studios biggest trailer launch ever (for MGM, Amazon, or even combined). Eva Mendes shared the news and added in that caption her “confession” of “399 million of these views” being her own.

It’s the sweetest sentiment, but obviously only that. Eva Mendes actually wouldn’t have had enough time to watch the three minute trailer hundreds of millions of times in a week. It’s great to see Ryan Gosling’s wife continue to support her man with his latest upcoming release after previously creating a glorious hashtag when the first look at Ken in Barbie came out or spreading the word about The Fall Guy when it was hitting theaters last summer.

Along with Project Hail Mary having a fan-favorite movie star in Ryan Gosling and taking place in space, it’s also one of the upcoming book adaptations that a lot of readers have been excited about. It’s based on an Andy Weir science fiction novel that came out back in 2021. The book has been a bestseller and critically-acclaimed novel ever since it hit stores, and now it sounds like it could be the source material for one of 2026’s big blockbusters.

It also helps that the movie is helmed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who famously made the 21 Jump Street and its sequels, the Spider-Verse movies, The Lego Movie and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Both directors shared the following on Twitter to celebrate the trailer’s big achievement as well:

I can’t wait to learn about what they have up their sleeves for SDCC later this month before the movie hits theaters on March 20, 2026. In the meantime, I expect even more reminders that Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes are absolute, verified couple goals.

Anyone with a love for reading knows that there are some books that cement themselves firmly onto our book-loving souls, the characters existing in full color in our imaginations, the stories inspiring genuine emotions, creating lasting memories for all the ups and downs, and twists and turns they took us on. Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary is one of those books for me. As a fan of The Martian (the book and the film adaptation), I devoured Project Hail Mary when it was released, and have re-listened to the audiobook since then. I'm beyond excited about and hopeful for the film adaptation of the 2021 sci-fi thriller.

Honestly, Project Hail Mary is the movie I’m most anticipating amidst some huge films listed on the 2026 movie schedule, not to mention one of the most anticipated book-to-screen adaptations on my mental I-Cant-Fracking-Wait list. So to say that I’m thrilled to know that a trailer is finally here would be an under. statement. Just what to directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller have in store for us with this adaptation? Watch the full Project Hail Mary trailer above.

If you haven’t read the book, the basic premise of the story is that the world is in big trouble, and main character, Ryland Grace, finds himself awakening on a spaceship on a mission for one last attempt to save the planet. How he got there and what he has to do is all part of what unfolds in the story. Now that we've seen the trailer, I'm going to talk in a bit more detail about the book and what we've been shown. That includes vague spoilers, but only in response to the footage.

Below is the poster released by Amazon MGM Studios on Friday, and then we'll get into what the trailer shows us!

What the Project Hail Mary trailer reveals

The trailer reveals Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace, who is very much not an astronaut. This is relevant because he's being tasked to go on a last-chance "Hail Mary" mission to save the planet.

Seeing Gosling insist on his lack of qualifications for space exploration to Sandra Hüller's politely serious character is exactly the kind of humor I loved in the book and anticipated from Gosling in this performance. But the trailer doesn't stop there, as we also get glimpses a world in danger of extinction due to a dying sun, the plan to try to fix what's happening, and of Ryland Grace, a non-astronaut school teacher, looking very bearded and disoriented as he wakes up on the space ship.

And in the final minute of the nearly-3-minute preview, we see him meet a fellow space explorer, who he decides to call Rocky. Yup, the cat's out of the bag there, folks, which isn't super surprising. But the trailer leaves plenty unseen as it relates to Ryland's new friend, which I'm grateful for. We get a peek at Rocky's hands as Ryland attempts to show him how to do a thumb's up, but the rest is left to our imagination (and I kind of hope it stays there until March 2026, but we'll see).

While this is the first time most of us see any significant footage from the Project Hail Mary movie adaptation, it won’t be the first time anyone’s seen footage. CinemaBlend’s Jeff McCobb and Eric Eisenberg were fortunate enough to be in the room at CinemaCon when Amazon did their presentation for their upcoming slate. Eric’s a fan of the book, and you can tell by his glowing response — “my excitement has reached extreme levels” is literally one of the things he said after seeing the footage — that he’s optimistic about the movie, to say the least. I'm not sure if the trailer above is the same footage shown at CinemaCon, but either way, I can appreciate Eric's enthusiasm firsthand now!

Is It March 2026 yet?

As a fan of the book, I was already planning to see Project Hail Mary. And with an impressively high 4.5 rating on GoodReads (especially considering there are more than 800,000 ratings logged for the book), I’m willing to bet there are a lot of other book fans who will be lining up for it. But I'm beyond excited now that we've gotten a look at the movie.

Project Hail Mary hits theaters on March 20, 2026.

If you're a science-fiction fan looking for a great book, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is a novel that you should be adding to your "To Be Read" list immediately. Like The Martian (Weir's first novel), it's a story that is thrilling, hilarious, and fascinating in equal measure, and every chapter succeeds in getting you more invested in the plot and characters. Being such a big fan, I have naturally been hotly anticipating the upcoming adaptation from director Phil Lord and Chris Miller starring Ryan Gosling – but after actually getting to see footage from the movie this evening, my excitement has reached extreme levels.

Amazon MGM hosted its first ever presentation at CinemaCon today, and the studio's bullishness about Project Hail Mary showed via the fact that an extended look at the 2026 blockbuster started playing on the big screen at The Colosseum at Caesar's Palace before even a single executive, filmmaker or actor stepped on stage. The reel clearly established what the movie is about and demonstrated its mixed tones, and by the time it was finished, the entire audience erupted in rapturous applause.

Unlike the book, which is constructed non-linearly, the footage spooled out the story in chronological order, starting with the introduction of Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) as an elementary school teacher who gets selected to join a collection of scientists who have been tasked with trying to save the world. Across the universe, suns are being consumed by a mysterious alien microbe dubbed Astrophage, and a solution must be found to stop them before our galaxy's central star dims and causes catastrophe that ends all life on Earth.

Ryland is recruited by a woman named Eva Stratt (Oscar nominee Sandra Hüller), who shows up at his classroom, and though he is in denial about his ability to help what has been dubbed Project Hail Mary, she insists that he be an essential part of the team. He gets taken to a military freighter where he meets everyone else that has signed on, and it's there that he understands why the mission got its name: the plan is to create an interstellar spaceship that can cross the cosmos and travel to what seems to be the only sun in the universe not being affected by Astrophage.

But it's not just Ryland's science skills that are needed. After a montage of science experiments, the protagonist gets the news from Stratt that he is going to be one of the crew members on the ship – a job that he vehemently refuses ("I put the 'not' in 'astronaut'" is one of his registered excuses). His denials are for naught, however, as he ends up waking up aboard a spaceship that has traveled beyond the limits of the Milky Way – his hair long and sporting an out-of-control beard.

As crazy as it is that he finds himself nearing the central star of the Tau Ceti system, things get far crazier when his computer picks up readings of something massive approaching. It turns out to be humanity's first interaction with an alien ship... and when it launches a mysterious cylindrical object toward the Earth vessel, it causes Ryland to freak out as he wonders if it might be a bomb. It gets closer and closer, and the hero curls into a ball expecting his imminent death... but when the object clangs off his hull, he excitedly realizes that it is some kind of message.

A bridge is made between the two ships, and Ryland cautiously moves his way down it to a wall with a small window – and he screams and totally freaks out when an alien claw slaps up against it. The scene then cut to the protagonist recording a video message saying, "I met an alien. He's really growing on me. He's not growing in me, which was a concern for a little while." And that moment concluded the footage.

Simply put, Project Hail Mary looks like it's going to be the exact movie that I had playing in my head as I read the book, and I feel like I need to start working on a time machine or look into cryogenics so that I can reduce the amount of time left to wait before it finally arrives in theaters. The only significant parts of the novel that weren't featured in the footage were A) all of the science Ryland does to survive out in space, and B) the full look of the alien (whose name is Rocky), but I have full faith that the adaptation will ultimately deliver magic.

The wait is going to be long for the film, as Project Hail Mary won't be hitting the big screen until almost a full year from now – specifically on March 20, 2026 – but based on what was shown off today at CinemaCon 2025, I have unflappable faith that it will be a perfect adaptation of the source material.

When Avengers: Endgame came out in 2019, we were introduced to “America’s Ass” thanks to a hilarious line first coined by Paul Rudd's Scott Lang during the titular heroes' time heist. And, in CinemaBlend’s favorite movie of 2023, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Oscar Isaac’s Miguel O’Hara gave Steve Rogers a run for the money, as the hero from the Sony Animation feature was a hit. Ultimately, the internet was thirsty for Spider-Man 2099. And, as the filmmaker’s recently revealed, they very much intended for O'Hara to be a "thirst trap."

When the Across The Spider-Verse team were awarded the Letterboxd trophy for the highest-rated movie of 2023, they sat down to read audience reviews from fans of the film. One of the reviews read. “Shout out to whoever made the decision to give the Oscar Isaac Spider-Man an absolutely ginormous ass.” Funny enough, Justin K. Thompson sharing some surprising sentiments on that front (or behind?):

That’s right. One doesn’t mistakenly make a character as attractive as Miguel O’Hara is in Across The Spider-Verse. Justin K. Thompson specifically took credit for being on “butt detail” during the movie’s production due to his aim to make Spider-Man 2099 an absolute hottie from the very beginning of production. To which we say, thank you for your service, king! Co-director Kemp Powers also chimed in, saying this: 

Truly, for years, so many female characters have been drawn for the male gaze, with a character like Roger Rabbit’s Jessica Rabbit being a prime example. It sounds like the filmmakers wanted to even the playing field and really focus on giving audiences some male characters to dream about. As writer/producer Phil Lord shared as well: 

Honestly, they knew what they were doing with the entire Across The Spider-Verse cast! You can check out the full video of the Spider-Verse filmmakers talking about Miguel O’Hara’s “ginormous ass” below, amidst the team winning the top spot on the Letterboxd 2023 highest rated films list: 

In addition to the acclaimed sequel earning the aforementioned honor, we also named it the best of all the Spider-Man movies, and it's also among the 2024 Oscar nominees that's up for Best Animated Feature. We certainly haven’t seen the last of Miguel O’Hara following the cliffhanger ending of Across The Spider-Verse. I'm curious as to how the creative team manages to maintain (or expand upon) his sexiness in the trilogy capper, Beyond The Spider-Verse, which is currently in production. While we wait, you can revisit Across or check it out for the first time using a Netflix subscription.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a behemoth one, thanks to both movies and shows that are available with a Disney+ subscription. Those of us who have spent years watching the Marvel movies in order will notice that there have been some recent box office struggles, including the most recent blockbuster.  he Lego Movie’s Phil Lord finally caught The Marvels in theaters, and he had the same exact opinion I did.

The Marvels’ critical response was positive, but Nia DaCosta’s MCU debut still struggled at the box office. In the end, The Marvels had the lowest opening of any movie in the shared universe. Still, there are plenty of fans of the movie, and Spider-Verse filmmaker Phil Lord can be included in those numbers. Lord tweeted out a short and direct response to the movie, saying:

I mean, same. I personally thought the latest MCU movie was a total blast, one with a quirky tone and comedy that helped it absolutely fly by. Indeed, The Marvels had the shortest runtime out of any movie from the share universe, which I think helped make it such a delightful watch. Unfortunately, it failed to make money at the box office, which is a real bummer.

The movie’s disappointing box office numbers are somewhat confusing. Namely because Nia DaCosta’s blockbuster was a sequel to a number of projects including Endgame, WandaVision, and Ms. Marvel. The Marvels’ credits scenes also teased some exciting concepts that’ll no doubt pay off in the upcoming Marvel movies. Namely the formation of the Young Avengers, a concept fans have been wondering about throughout Phases Four and Five.

Those who didn’t go to theaters might be somewhat out of the loop in forthcoming MCU installments, especially given Monica Rambeau’s credit sequence. During that sequence (which is seemingly set in an alternate universe) Kelsey Grammer returned as Beast, finally setting up the appearance of the X-Men in the shared universe. We’ll just have to see what Kevin Feige and company have up their sleeves, and how The Marvels will impact future movies and TV shows within the shared universe. 

The Captain Marvel sequel might have had the cards stacked against it from the jump, as there’s been some backlash to Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers since she was cast. There’s also been concerns over superhero fatigue, with fan excitement about the MCU waning since the release of Avengers: Endgame. Although there have been a few exceptions like Guardians 3. 

The Marvels is still in theaters now, and the next Marvel movie hitting theaters will be Shawn Levy’s Deadpool 3 on July 26th, 2024. In the meantime, check out the 2024 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. 

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse introduced a plethora of new characters to the cinematic franchise launched in 2018. Plenty of them had their time to shine and played key roles in the second chapter of Miles Morales’ story. One particular player who made a serious impression, however, is Spider-Punk, voiced by Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya. The ultra-cool, anti-establishment superhero proved to be one of the most complex figures within the multiversal tale. Believe it or not though, he could’ve been left out of the film, and the producers explained the reasoning for that. 

Let’s be honest. There’s a lot going on in this particular 2023 new movie release. It features a packed story and, as mentioned, there are a lot of characters in the mix. So in theory, it would make sense that some would need to be cut for the sake of time and/or to free up narrative real estate. However, you may still wonder how in the world could a hero as awesome as Spider-Punk (a.k.a. Hobie Brown) nearly be omitted from the final cut? Writer-producer Phil Lord explained to EW that it all had to do with how Brown meshed with the creative team’s storytelling plans. He also revealed what ultimately helped keep the hero in the sprawling and colorful tale:

Though it may be hard for some to imagine a version of Across the Spider-Verse that doesn’t feature Spider-Punk (who was tied to a wild Easter egg), Phil Lord’s logic makes sense. Every element of a film must work in harmony if it’s to ultimately convey its story as intended. As mentioned, the Spidey sequel has plenty of moving parts, so even a slight shift could’ve meant a character deletion or narrative change. Thankfully though, the stars aligned for the British web-slinger to remain in the picture.

Hobie Brown is one of the more enigmatic members of the Spider-Society and is established as a friend (and possible love interest) of Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman. While that latter detail initially makes Miles uncomfortable around him, the two eventually form a mutual respect for one another. It’s that relationship that encourages Brown to help Morales escape the society when he seeks to return home to prevent the death of his father, Jefferson, which is said to be a “canon event.” Shortly after, the UK-based superhero quits the society and is last seen alongside Gwen and other costumed do-gooders as they seek to locate Miles.

The writers and animators deserve a lot of credit for crafting this version of Dan Slott and Olivier Coipel’s Spider-Punk. However, Daniel Kaluuya deserves props for helping to further flesh out the role and establish the vigilante’s backstory and more. In fact, the filmmakers ultimately felt compelled to make Camden Town Hobie’s place of origin not only because it’s viewed as the birthplace of punk but also because it’s Kaluuya’s hometown. Writer-producer Chris Miller further emphasized how it was the actor’s approach that convinced them to keep SP in the movie: 

As mentioned, the ending of Across the Spider-Verse essentially confirms he’ll be back in the game for the upcoming trilogy capper. However, it’s currently unclear as to when we’ll get to see more of Daniel Kaluuya’s portrayal. Some wondered if Beyond the Spider-Verse might be delayed from its early 2024 release date and, weeks ago, Sony officially removed it from its schedule amid the SAG-AFTRA actors and WGA writers strikes. While I’m champing at the bit to see what lies ahead for Hobie, Miles and co., I’m just glad the anti-authoritarian wall-crawler exists in this cinematic form.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now available to own on Digital HD and will be released on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on September 5.

Usually when a movie is shown in theaters, everyone around the world is seeing the exact same final product, aside from dialogue being dubbed in other languages, of course. Not so with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, as a few weeks into the sequel’s theatrical run, it was confirmed there were multiple versions of the movie playing on the big screen. Now that Across the Spider-Verse is available for digital purchase, producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller have clarified what was going on with these various tweaks to the 2023 new movie release.

While promoting about their latest movie, Strays, Lord and Miller, who also co-wrote Across the Spider-Verse’s script with Dave Callaham and had previously directed Into the Spider-Verse, spent some time talking with The Wrap going discussing Across the Spider-Verse, specifically how the immediate months leading to the wide release, though a full cut of the movie had been put together, aspects of it were altered in the aftermath. As Miller explained:

So in order for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse to be presented in Europe, the movie’s team had to put together a complete version that could be played for these French censors, and once delivered, it couldn’t be changed. However, the animators discovered some ways to improve Across the Spider-Verse afterwards, and while that resulted in their preferred version of the movie, a lot of people internationally haven’t been able to see it. Miller continued:

Phil Lord then added that these tweaks amounted to “mostly improved effects shots and a couple of audio fixes,” as well as “a couple of things that we did for our own vanity here and there.” However, he and Chris Miller consider the movie that’s now available to digitally watch and will soon come out on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD to be the “posterity edition.” He and Chris Miller also asserted that they they wouldn’t describe this as multiple “versions” of Across the Spider-Verse being out there, which makes sense given that the main story unfolds the same way no matter where you’re watching it. As Lord put it:

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’s theatrical run has arrived at the finish line, and with a $684.4 million worldwide haul, it currently stands as 2023’s fifth highest-grossing movie. If you want to acquire a copy of the sequel in disc form, you’ll need to wait until Tuesday,. September 5. Let’s also not forget how Across the Spider-Verse left audiences with a wild cliffhanger ending that sets the stage nicely for Beyond the Spider-Verse. Sadly, the threequel was recently removed from Sony’s release calendar, so it’s anyone’s guess for now when this trilogy will conclude.

Meanwhile, you can learn what movies will be coming out soon by looking through our 2023 release schedule and 2024 release schedule. Also, don’t forget that streaming-wise, Across the Spider-Verse will first be made available to Netflix subscribers.

We are in the midst of the revitalization of the whodunit genre. Some of it has been inspired by the success of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, which spawned a winning sequel in Glass Onion. Johnson continued developing the genre in the spectacular series Poker Face, available to audience members with a Peacock subscription. That show follows the fantastic Natasha Lyonne as a wanderer with a flawless bullsnit detector, and every episode wraps up a wildly original crime. But then there’s The Afterparty, a sprawling murder mystery streaming on Apple TV+ that stretches over the course of an entire season, with each new episode providing clues by looking at the story from fresh angles. And some changes were made behind the scenes from Season 1 to Season 2 that, believe it or not, made things a bit more complicated for the cast.

The Afterparty made it to our list of the best whodunit shows on television, which also includes Only Murders In The Building and Mare of Easttown. The action on Season 2 of The Afterparty moved to a wedding reception, and brought back three characters from the first season, including Zoe Chao and Sam Richardson. And when we interviewed them about the differences between Season 1 and Season 2, where Richardson mentioned a specific change. He told us:

But as you might imagine, having watched the first three episodes of The Afterparty Season 2, that can make for a nightmare of continuity. Because each episode centers around a new character, and adopts the tone of a fresh genre (so far, we have seen a Jane Austin period piece, and a gritty film noir). Both Zoe Chao and Sam Richardson praised the work of Chris Miller and the creative team for helping the cast to maintain their narrative threads, and knowing what their characters are supposed to know, and when they are supposed to know it. Otherwise, the whole mystery could unravel. 

There are a handful of incredibly clever genre spoofs still to come in The Afterparty Season 2, including one inspired by the films of Wes Anderson. The trailer for Season 2 will give you a hint of what’s still to come:

We were huge fans of The Afterparty in its initial season, and even had a very special guest crash our ReelBlend interview with Phil Lord and Chris Miller on behalf of the show. We knew that the concept would easily transition to a new location (like we said, in this case, a wedding reception), and can’t wait to see where the rest of the episodes in Season 2 will take the characters. Here’s information on how you can stream The Afterparty Season 2, which definitely ranks as one of the best Tiffany Haddish shows that you can watch right now. Make sure that you catch up on the series before the next episode drops!

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has been taking the cinematic world by storm for four weeks now. Along with the Into the Spider-Verse sequel earning critical acclaim from professional reviewers and the general public alike, it also crossed the $500 million mark and is currently the sixth high-grossing movie of 2023 worldwide. Now moviegoers await reuniting with Miles Morales in Beyond the Spider-Verse, which is currently slated to come out on March 29, 2024. However, it was recently alleged that Beyond the Spider-Verse will end up being delayed, and producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller have responded to this claim.

Last week, an animator who worked on Across the Spider-Verse identified only as “Stephen” said that there was “no way” Beyond the Spider-Verse would make its current release date because the threequel has only just began production. When Comicbook.com inquired about this with Lord and Miller while they were plugging the new season of The Afterparty (which can be streamed with an Apple TV+ subscription), they responded:

Phil Lord: I would say that just like we're going to take the time necessary to make Beyond the Spider-Verse great.

Chris Miller: And we won't back into a release date that doesn't fit.

So that’s neither a confirmation nor denial from Phil Lord and Chris Miller that Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse will need to be pushed back, only that these two and the rest of this animated movie’s team will take as much time as needed to make it the best it can be. Following the original claim from “Stephen,” Sony Pictures “declined to comment” on the state of the follow-up’s production, but various clues have been stacking up pointing towards Beyond the Spider-Verse arriving later than we expected. Also keep in mind that there was a five-year gap between Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse’s respective releases, so if indeed the threequel is in the earliest stages of production right now, we could end up waiting a similar amount of time for its arrival. 

Obviously it’s best to put together a movie carefully rather than rush through the creative process and churn out a subpar product, so if we have to wait years for Beyond the Spider-Verse’s arrival, then so be it. That said, given how many unfinished plot threads were left in Across the Spider-Verse’s ending, you can be sure such a long wait would be tough for fans. At least Avengers: Endgame was able to follow up on Thanos’ snap a year after Avengers: Infinity War’s release, although to be fair, those movies shot back-to-back.

Rest assured that if Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse is delayed, CinemaBlend will let you know, but for now, it remains in its current place on the 2024 movie release schedule. Meanwhile, Across the Spider-Verse, which sits at the top of our list of every Spider-Man movie ranked, continues its theatrical run, and it turns out that there are multiple versions of the movie playing in on the big screen.

Phil Lord’s legacy as a prolific American filmmaker is being further cemented after the release and success of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. The movie, which Lord co-wrote and co-produced, is getting incredible reviews and being touted as one of the best films of the year. This is his second superhero film, as he also worked on 2018’s Into the Spider-Verse, and he's overseen other franchise films with his producing partner, Chris Miller. As the Spider-Verse movies see immense success, Lord has something to say about the current state of superhero films, specifically when it comes to their reliance on Easter eggs. 

He and Chris Miller opened up about their experience working on Across the Spider-Verse while chatting with The Hollywood Reporter. Amid the conversation, they also got candid about their opinion on “superhero fatigue” (which has been discussed by Disney's Bob Iger and more execs lately). The pair specifically zeroed in on why audiences may not be attracted to the same tropes and easy sells as they were with previous comic book films. Phil Lord didn't mince words when sharing his two cents on how filmmakers employ reveals:

He has a great point. While many hardcore fans get excited about Easter eggs in superhero projects, what really sustains audiences are firm relationships between characters. Marvel, in particular has had a rough patch this year, with films like Thor: Love and Thunder and Ant-Man: Quantumania not being as successful as hoped. However, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was a big hit for the studio, with many fans being emotionally moved by the relationship between the titular team. While films like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness experimented with genre and stakes, it didn't garner the same fan response as the more character-driven entries. It's also worth mentioning that Strange 2 had a number of major cameos and teases.

That all speaks volumes to this uncertain era for the superhero genre. In previous years, many of these films would be instant blockbuster smashes. But as of late, films like Black Adam and Shazam! Fury of the Gods have underperformed at the box office.  When it comes to The Marvel Cinematic Universe, some believe that fans haven't connected with the new characters as they did with Iron Man or Captain America. There's also the fact that there's a lot of MCU content being cranked out these days and, in some ways, it can be homogeneous. And with that high volume, it can also be hard to keep up, thus forcing some to get off the hype train. 

Phil Lord and Chris Miller seem to have figured all of this out, though, as Across the Spider-Verse is a box office hit. Without going into spoilers, the movie does have a few sweet cameos and Easter eggs that are sure to delight fans. However, the filmmakers don't make those reveals their bread and butter. Instead, they focus mainly on crafting a compelling narrative and using animation in innovative ways to help tell it. Lord certainly dished out some keen words of wisdom, and it's fair to say that a number of others may be able to benefit from them.

You can catch Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse now, as it’s currently in theaters nationwide, and check out its predecessor, Into the Spider-Verse, which is currently available to rent on Amazon. For more information on other features in the genre that are heading to cinemas in the near future, make sure to consult our listing of upcoming superhero films as well as the 2023 schedule of upcoming movies. 

There are major film franchises, and then there’s Star Wars. Generations grew up with the galaxy far, far away, and the property is showing no signs of slowing down. Since Disney acquired Lucasfilm a number of projects were released, to varying degrees of success. Solo: A Star Wars Story had a troubled set, and unfortunately became the franchise’s first box office disappointment. The movie was originally directed by Oscar winners Phil Lord and Chris Miller, before they were fired by Lucasfilm. But the filmmakers explained how the Star Wars flick still made them better filmmakers, despite how things turned out.

In addition to the sequel trilogy, Lucasfilm/Disney swung hard by producing two standalone Star Wars movies. Solo: A Star Wars Story gave the title character an origin story, and made headlines when Lord and Miller were removed from the set. The pair of filmmakers recently spoke to Rolling Stone about their time in the space opera, and what they took away from that experience. Lord shared some of the positives, saying:

That’s a solid point. While Ron Howard stepped into complete Solo, Lord and Miller spent a great deal of time working on the ill-fated blockbuster. And that experience was something that they learned from, and that they’ll seemingly always remember. After all, no one’s ever really gone.

The original Solo directors spoke about their experience while promoting their recently released animated blockbuster Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. The first one won them an Oscar, and the Spider-Verse sequel has performed well in theaters. Eventually the conversation turned to Star Wars, with Chris Miller offering more upsides to their time on set:

It sounds like their time with Solo: A Star Wars Story has really affected Miller and Lord’s work moving forward. The need to bring something new is no doubt what made Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse such a unique cinematic experience, despite its unique visual language and ambitious plot. And that need for innovation is what made it such a wild success.

Given just how popular Star Wars is and how passionate the fans continue to be, jumping into the galaxy far, far away is no doubt a daunting experience. But Phil Lord has another perspective on the franchise, which no doubt influenced how they approached Solo. As he put it,

Facts. George Lucas’ original movie A New Hope was a bold swing that was accomplished a ton on a smaller budget. And for Lord and Miller, having creative control is super important— no matter what franchise they might be involved in.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is in theaters now. As for Star Wars, a new trilogy of movies was recently announced. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. 

The superhero genre has been dominating the film world for over a decade, and some projects have been a very long time coming. Case in point: the upcoming DC movie The Flash, which sat in development hell for years before Andy Muschietti actually began production. A number of incarnations of the project were tossed around, including a draft written by Chris Miller and Phil Lord. And the latter filmmaker recently revealed major changes in his story for The Flash.

The Flash had a long journey to theaters, with a number of directors taking on the job and dropping out. The project also went through writers, including filmmakers Chris Miller and Phil Lord, who won an Oscar for their work on Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. Lord recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about how his version of Ezra Miller’s DC blockbuster differed from the movie that’ll be hitting theaters shortly. In his words:

Talk about a pivot. Part of why audiences are eagerly anticipating the release of The Flash is because it’s going to be a multiversal story that’ll include ties to Man of Steel and multiple versions of Batman played by Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton. But that wasn’t going to be part of the story when Miller and Lord submitted their draft.

Phil Lord’s comments show how much things change when movies are in development– even major productions like The Flash. And while there might be some similarities between their version of the movie and the finished product that’s hitting theaters, the core of the story is different. Namely because there’s a big difference between time travel and breaking open the DC multiverse. Later in that same interview, Lord joked about what their version of the script included, saying:

Honestly, that sounds pretty funny. Of course, it’s possible that a scene about Barry Allen’s caloric intake could be in the DC flick. After all, Phil Lord hadn’t actually seen the movie yet. But plenty of other notable celebs have, with even Stephen King singing The Flash’s praises. And funny enough it’ll be competing with Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse at the box office.

After hearing Phil Lord’s comments, I’m even more curious about what his version of Andy Muschetti’s upcoming blockbuster would have looked like. Without the multiverse in play The Flash cast presumably would have been quite different. This would likely rule out both Supergirl and Michael Keaton’s Batman, as well as Michael Shannon’s return as Zod. And smart money says that Ezra Miller would have played only one version of Barry Allen.

The early reception for The Flash has been super positive, and it should be interesting to see what moviegoing audiences think about the blockbuster. There are also countless questions about how it might tie into the new version of the DCU that James Gunn and Peter Safran are crafting. Will it mark Ezra Miller’s final bow as the Scarlet Speedster? Only time will tell.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is in theaters now, and The Flash will follow suit on June 16th. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. 

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains minor spoilers for Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. If you have not yet seen the film, proceed at your own risk!

There are all kind of mind-melting animation styles explored in Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, but easily one of the most hilarious is the dip that the hit blockbuster film takes into Earth-13122: a universe that is constructed out of LEGO. It's a great moment because it feels like it is a nod to the work done by writer/producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller on The LEGO Movie – but what makes the moment in the film particularly special is the fact that the sequence was directed by a 14-year-old.

Said teenager is Preston, the creator of the YouTube channel LegoMe_TheOG and who posts on Twitter as @FG_Artist. The young Canaian filmmaker has been posting videos since the fall of 2021, and he has revealed via his Twitter account (and we have confirmed with Sony Pictures) that he directed the LEGO sequences in Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse:

The aforementioned Earth-13122 is introduced in the second act of Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse after The Spot (Jason Schwartzman) accidentally kicks himself into himself during a fight with Miles Morales (Shameik Moore). He starts ducking his head into different "spots," crossing into multiple universes, and one of them includes a world constructed out of LEGOs. Later, in a follow-up scene, LEGO Peter Parker (Nic Novicki) receives a notification from Miguel O'Hara (Oscar Isaac) while he is at work at the Daily Bugle, and he changes into his Spidey costume before hoping into a multiverse portal.

Watching the scene, it feels like it has been constructed by similar experienced, professional hands that made features like The LEGO Movie, The LEGO Movie 2, LEGO Batman and The LEGO Ninjago Movie, and it's pretty mind-blowing that the talent behind it is just a teenager.

It's additionally worth nothing that the two scenes in the film aren't the only connection that the young filmmaker has to Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. In late May, he got a great deal of attention and made headlines for recreating the entire trailer for the new movie in LEGO. You can check out his remarkable work below and understand why the filmmakers behind the multi-million dollar blockbuster trusted him to create a sequence for the film:

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse arrived in theaters this past weekend following an immense wave of critical buzz, and it had one of the biggest theatrical debuts of 2023 so far at the box office. Audiences have been awed by the work done by the phenomenal, talented artists, and it's amazing that one of the gifted filmmakers involved is so young. Based on what we've already seen from him, he has an exciting future ahead of him.

Between their successes with LEGO, 21 Jump Street and Spider-Verse movies, it’s safe to say Phil Lord and Chris Miller know how to drive a filmmaking cast and crew. As Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse swung into theaters to a five-star review from CinemaBlend and one of the best opening weekends of 2023, they spoke to some of their movie making secrets. One thing that proved to make their Spider-Verse sequel better, was their philosophy to “listen” rather than simply tell during the creative process. 

When CinemaBlend’s podcast ReelBlend spoke to Phil Lord and Chris Miller about making  Across the Spider-Verse, they got blunt that if one’s aspirations are to get into filmmaking “because you like to be in charge, definitely get another job.” They shared a valuable example where listening made the web-slinging animated movie and one specific character in the movie better. In Miller’s words:

If you’ve caught up with this week’s biggest of 2023 new movie releases, you can likely attest that Pavitr Prabhakar is an absolute scene-stealer in Across The Spider-Verse. The Indian Spider-Man originally had a completely different introduction scene that animators noticed and reached out to the writers/producers about improving. 

As a result, Lord and Miller decided to meet with them and therein create a writers room to make the sequence more culturally specific and in their words just “better”, much of which Pavitr voice actor Karan Soni contributed to. Miller recalled the results, saying this: 

While some filmmakers might have not batted an eye at the email, Lord and Miller very much paid attention to it and welcomed more people to the table to improve Pavitr Prabhakar as an on-screen character. What came from it was things like the funny Chai tea bit where Soni’s Spider-Verse character explains that the common phrase just translates to “tea tea” because “chai” literally means tea in Hindi. 

You can check out the filmmakers speaking to the sequence in the video above. You can also watch the entire ReelBlend featuring Phil Lord and Chris Miller on YouTube. As Miller shared, they’ve found that having inclusivity initiatives in their movies not only makes their sequences better for the people being represented, but it also generally has made their movies better for everyone. It goes to show that inviting more collaboration and representation to major movies doesn’t just benefit underrepresented minorities, but general moviegoing audiences as a whole. 

The moment that reviews started rolling in for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, audiences realized they were in for something very special. It wasn’t just that the reactions were positive, including a perfect 5-star grade from our own Eric Eisenberg. It was the fact that critics were calling Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse a masterpiece, and unlike anything else that has been done in animation up to this point. Co-creators Phil Lord and Chris Miller even had to address comparisons that were being made to Empire Strikes Back, considered by many to be the best Star Wars movie in the franchise. Where is the series supposed to go after such raves? 

Well, if you are the creative team behind the Spider-Verse movies so far, you immediately start getting ready for the third and reportedly final installment in the trilogy centered on Miles Morales (Shameik Moore). Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse was announced at CinemaCon back in 2022, when Sony confirmed that Across the Spider-Verse would be part one of a two-part story. If you have seen Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, you know that there’s still plenty of story to tell when it comes to Miles, Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac) and the major players of the Multiverse. But, we're basically halfway through 2024, and we have no updates on when the story might continue. And that's a little concerning. 

Let’s break down everything we know so far about Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse.

What Is The Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse Release Date?

When Sony revealed that the sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was going to be a two-parter, they circled March 29, 2024 as a release date. Since then, the movie has been delayed. As of right now, we have no concrete release date for the third and final chapter. 

There are several reason why Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse has shifted off of its original release date. Some can blame the writers' strike, which created lengthy production snafus. But also, animation takes a very long time. Speaking with Digital Spy about Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse's release date, Lord and Miller said: 

It bears repeating, though, that animation (on the level of the Spider-Verse movies) takes an enormous amount of time. Production on Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse took five years to complete. The same team is going to have a worthy sequel in theaters less than one year after Across plays to crowds? Get out of here. Give the final installment in this trilogy all of the time that the creative team needs. 

Beyond The Spider-Verse Follows Some Major Cliffhangers

This section contains some plot information about Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. Read on at your own risk!

Spider-Man fans should think of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse as the middle chapter of a trilogy. This is a big part of the reason why the creative team behind the movie addressed comparisons to Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back once Across the Spider-Verse came out. Much like that famous Star Wars sequel, Across the Spider-Verse was darker and more mature than its immediate predecessor. And it ended on a cliffhanger that left the main hero in a devastating emotional spot. (No pun intended on the use of the term Spot.)

Because of how Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ended, we know that Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse will have to deal with Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) being stranded on Earth-42, a dark dimension where the spider that bit Miles was supposed to be. Yet, because the spider ended up in Miles’s universe, NO ONE got bit on Earth-42, meaning there is no Spider-Man. The brief looks we got of that universe made it look crime-ridden and destroyed. And then came the biggest reveal of them all… Miles Morales on Earth-42 didn’t become Spidey. He became The Prowler. 

Shamiek Moore and Other Cast Members Are Expected To Return

More spoilers ahead if you haven't seen Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse! 

As of this moment, Shameik Moore is the only confirmed cast member on IMDB for Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse. But we can use deductive reasoning to assume that Hailee Steinfeld and Jake Johnson absolutely will be returning as Gwen Stacy and Peter B. Parker. In the closing moments of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Gwen is putting together a new team to go rescue Miles from Earth-42 (and save Jefferson Davis from The Spot). The first person she portals over to recruit is Peter B., who is putting his daughter Mayday to bed. But we know he’ll agree to the mission… and they won’t be alone.

Several Spider people from Into the Spider-Verse were also part of Gwen’s new team. We saw Spider-Noir and Spider-Ham, meaning there’s a very good chance that Nic Cage and John Mulaney will return to voice those characters in Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. 

Jason Schwartzman undoubtedly will be back to finish off his journey as The Spot, who only grew more powerful over the course of Across the Spider-Verse and needs to be taken down. Finally, we expect that Miguel O’Hara and Jessica Drew – two characters we met for the first time in Across – will continue to make major contributions to the third and final chapter of the saga, so let’s pencil in Oscar Isaac and Issa Rae as “cast members assumed to return” when Beyond reaches theaters.

Here's What We Think 'Beyond' Might Mean In Beyond The Spider-Verse

We are hung up on the term Beyond. What does it mean to go beyond the Spider-Verse? In my mind, it means moving past the concept of animation, which is significant to the success of the first two movies. The animation in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse completely pushes the envelope in terms of what’s possible in the animation medium. It’s visually mindblowing, and often left my jaw hanging open in terms of what was accomplished. Particularly when it came to Gwen Stacy’s world, composed of spectacular watercolors that changed color to match the emotions of the scene. 

But there were moments in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse when the action stepped into live-action, specifically when it entered the universe of Venom, and interacted with Mrs. Chen (Peggy Lu), the shopkeeper who always pesters Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy). Later, during the conversation of canon, and moments in the life of Spider-Man that have to occur, we get glimpses of both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, further blending live-action into the Spider-Verse movies. Does this mean that Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse will fully embrace live-action, possibly in a combination that mirrors Who Framed Roger Rabbit? If that’s the case, I think that will lead to the inclusion of live-action Tom Holland playing his version of Peter Parker, and maybe even the official casting of Miles Morales in live-action… a part that Shameik Moore very much would like to play. 

Who Will Direct Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse?

When Sony Pictures Animation greenlit the sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the studio made one major change. The three co-directors of Into the Spider-Verse were replaced, though they stayed on as executive producers. That change led to Kemp Powers (Pixar’s Soul), Justin K. Thompson (Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs), and Joaquim Dos Santos (Avatar: The Last Airbender) taking over directorial reins for the sequel. And this trio will remain in place for Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.

This makes a ton of sense, because the creative team hard at work on Across the Spider-Verse had to be making strides on Beyond at the same time, and likely will be able to breathe a little easier now that the release date has been pushed back. Overall, though, keeping the core trio in the directors’ chairs also helps maintain continuity of voice and vision, which will be essential following the success of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. 

Who Is Going To Write Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse?

Along the same lines, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse will continue to be shepherded by co-creators Phil Lord and Chris Miller, in addition to screenwriter Dave Callaham. When Lord and Miller appeared on an episode of CinemaBlend’s official podcast, ReelBlend, they talked about some of the contributions Callaham made to Across the Spider-Verse that would continue through Beyond, telling us:

How’s that for a tease? Now, the waiting game begins. After the massive success of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, it’s going to be really hard to press pause on our anticipation and wait for Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. But given the quality of the first two movies, we have a very strong feeling that our patience will be rewarded with this (probably most likely) 2025 movie.

Many have come to the conclusion that 2018's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is the best Spider-Man movie. From both an animation and superhero standpoint the film was groundbreaking in a lot of ways and left people in awe. So, following its basically universal acclaim and its Best Animated Feature Oscar, the expectations for its sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse were high. So, with the movie now in theaters, Jake Johnson, the voice behind Peter B. Parker, weighed in on if he felt the pressure while making one of the highly anticipated movies on the 2023 movie schedule.

In the greater Spider-Verse the saying “with great power, comes great responsibility” is a staple. So, I’d assume the filmmakers and cast of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse felt the kind of pressure that comes with this saying while making the Spider-Verse sequel. However, when we asked Jake Johnson if he felt the pressure of topping the 2018 movie, he explained why he had the utmost confidence in this follow-up, and was “really excited” to return as Peter B. Parker. The actor told CinemaBlend: 

Before it was confirmed that Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse was a masterpiece through a swath of positive reviews about the Spider-Verse sequel, I, like Johnson, had a sense of confidence about the movie. Knowing that Phil Lord and Chris Miller were at the top, and that they had added three new directors, including Kemp Powers, who directed Pixar’s Soul, I had an inkling that we were in for something special. 

The movie was co-directed by Powers, Joaquim Dos Santos and Justin K. Thompson, who all have wickedly impressive resumes. Dos Santos was a storyboard artist for shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Spectacular Spider-Man. While Thompson came from a production design background after working on movies like the first Spider-Verse as well as Lord and Miller’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Overall, it was clear as day that this movie was in good hands. Having three masters of their craft at the helm, Lord and Miller returning to write with Dave Callaham and produce it with the OG movie’s directors it makes sense why Jake Johnson wasn’t all that worried about topping the original.  

Even with these massive expectations, Spider-Man: Acorss the Spider-Verse managed to top the original with both critics and audiences alike praising the film for its groundbreaking animation, stand-out new characters like Pavitr Prabhakar, and heartfelt exciting story. Our own Eric Eisenberg gave Across the Spider-Verse five stars, saying “you’ve never seen anything like” it, and that the film is “thrilling, stunning, and emotional perfection.” 

So, that confidence Jake Johnson had was warranted, and our beloved Miles Morales’ story continued in an amazing, emotional, and jaw-dropping way that improves on its exceptional predecessor. 

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Starring Shameik Moore, Hailee Seinfeld, and Oscar Isaac) is not just one of our favorite movies of the year, but, for some of us, one of our favorite films of all time. We sat down with the filmmaking duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller to discuss their process, building the story that bridges the first and third films in the trilogy, the prospects of Miles and friends finding themselves in a live-action world in Beyond the Spider-Verse, and more. 

Stay tuned through the interview for our box office predictions, as well as our spoiler-free review of the film. Next week, we welcome the directors for a spoiler-filled chat so stay tuned to ReelBlend for more from the Spider-Verse. 

Timestamps (approx. only)

00:00:00 - Intro
00:04:53 - Phil Lord & Chris Miller Talk ‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse’
00:38:27 - ‘Across The Spider-Verse’ Box Office
00:52:02 - ‘The Boogeyman’ Review
01:04:38 - ‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse’  Review (Spoiler-Free)
01:20:48 - Our Favorite Spider-Man Moments
01:27:20 - Outro

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Five years have passed since Sony Pictures Animation took audiences Into the Spider-Verse along with Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), and Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson). A lot has changed in that time period. Miles is growing into his role as Brooklyn’s one and only Spider-Man. A new threat has emerged in the form of The Spot (Jason Schwartzman). And the effects of the end of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse have had a devastating impact on the Multiverse… as we will find out in the upcoming movie, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

The first movie still ranks at the top of our list of the best Spider-Man movies ever made. But that doesn’t mean it’s flawless. In fact, when speaking with Phil Lord and Chris Miller ahead of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the brilliant creative duo revealed to us one change they had to make to the first movie, so that the new film would make sense, from a continuity standpoint. Specifically, they had to start at the very end, as Lord and Miller revealed:

Yeah, that would have created all kinds of headaches. This very much feels like the kind of continuity error that Spider-Man fans easily can accept. They know that it took the team behind Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse five years to deliver on the anticipated sequel. And early reviews suggest it was worth the wait. But the team left themselves in a bit of a corner when they showed Gwen returning to Miles in the closing moments of Into The Spider-Verse, because to pick up the story there would not have allowed for any in-story growth for the main characters… which Lord and Miller knew they wanted to introduce. 

Here’s that scene, in its original form:

There are other small changes that Phil Lord and Chris Miller said that they made from the world of Into ahead of Across, one being the design of Capt. George Stacy, who has a larger role in this sequel. The rest of the movie focuses heavily on expanding the multiverses introduced in the new sequel, and learning more about all of the new characters (played by an all-star roster of voice talent). 

It’s probably a good idea to catch up on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse before you head out to see the new movie. Here’s where all of the Spider-Man movies are streaming. And keep it on CinemaBlend for even more coverage of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, hitting theaters on June 2.

The bar doesn’t get set much higher than what was accomplished by Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. We live in a time when Spider-Man is ubiquitous on the big screen and technology is constantly evolving the world of animation, and yet the 2019 blockbuster is unlike anything that came before it and stretches imagination to extremes. It’s an emotional and laugh-out-loud funny adventure centering on a web-slinger brand new to the big screen, and the animation is executed with style that is staggering in its inventiveness and rewarding with every rewatch thanks to a jaw-dropping attention to detail. It was immediately and appropriately recognized as one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of feature-length animation.

So what if I told you that Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is even better? Would you believe me? Incredulity would certainly be understandable given all of the aforementioned, but it’s not a lie. The sequel is everything that is great about its predecessor but even bigger and more impressive. Tonally, it swings between hilarious and devastating; the main characters only develop to be more complex and fascinating; the dramatic stakes are magnified and impressive; and the massive artistic swings are bliss. It’s everything you want it to be, everything it should be, and more.

The multi-faceted story catches up with Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) independently, as the two heroes have been separated since their multiverse-crossing adventure in the previous movie. Miles has matured into a veteran Spider-Man on Earth-1610, balancing heroics and school while keeping his secret identity from his parents (Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Vélez), but Gwen’s life has gotten significantly more intense. Her home life on Earth-65 has been fractured, and as a result she has elected to join a universe-hoping strike force of Spider-People variants organized by the hulking, dark Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac).

When a villain who claims to be Miles’ nemesis named The Spot (Jason Schwarzman) emerges, Gwen ends up being sent on a mission back to Earth-1610, and she makes a detour so that she can see her friend. This decision ends up having calamitous consequences, however, as Miles discovers that an immense secret is being kept from him, and as he ends up getting pulled across the multiverse following Gwen and learning devastating realities about the nature of being Spider-Man.

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse digs deep into its characters and gets impressive emotional results.

Much as it enjoys mocking origin movies (“Let’s do this one last time” comically repeated in narration throughout), Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is a film that very much has the narrative responsibility of laying a franchise foundation, and all of that superb table-setting lets Across The Spider-Verse come out of the gate sprinting. With the worlds, concepts, and characters established, what’s left is for the sequel to dive into everything deeper, and this is accomplished both in exploring the emotional dynamics between the heroes and their families as well as in outlandish sci-fi ideas. Both have equal weight in the film and are executed phenomenally.

Spellbinding as all the action is (and, holy wow, is it special), the most captivating sequences in Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse are those that are overflowing with pathos, as Miles and Gwen are respectively struggling with strained relationships with their parents – the latter’s painfully influencing the former’s. Miles’ mom and dad are worried seeing their son grow into an independent adult, fearing how the world will treat him, and Miles is pained having to keep his identity as Spider-Man hidden from them. It’s a truth that Gwen encourages him to hide given that her own father, Captain George Stacy (Shea Wigham), has been long hunting for Spider-Woman of Earth-65, believing that she is responsible for murdering Gwen’s best friend, Peter Parker.

These deeply human and love-based conflicts prove to be the backbone of Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. Without spoiling the twists and turns of the story, all the universe-hoping wildness in the film leads to a true battle between logic and emotion in the third act, and it’s because of how much heart is on display and care is put into the characters that it’s all as fascinating as it is powerful.

Dramatic as it can get, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is a multiverse-hopping blast.

The intensity of the drama in Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse stands out because it’s unexpected, but don’t be concerned: the animated film is also outrageously fun and it is constantly looking for new ways to make you laugh. There is no end to the quippy, snappy dialogue; the inelegant early fights between Miles and the portal-covered The Spot are a riot; surprises and quick dips into alternate universes get a nice collection shock giggles; and there’s no shortage of background details that you’ll catch out of the corner of your eye and get you smile.

And then there are all of the new Spider-People. Hobie Brown a.k.a. Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya) is the greatest scene-stealer in the film, both being excessively cool and anarchic to the point of comical contradiction, and Pavitr Prabhakar a.k.a. Spider-Man India (Karan Soni) brings a wonderful effervescence. But Miles’ introduction to the headquarters of Miguel O’Hara’s base of operations in its entirety will be remembered among the high points of cinematic delight for 2023, as fans will pore over frames trying to spot as many wall-crawlers as they can and be amazed at the wackiness and variety.

You've never seen anything like Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse.

As the film’s tone nimbly bounces hitting the comedic highs and dramatic lows, what’s most consistent about Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is that it’s a visual feast. While its predecessor stunned by featuring an ensemble of characters who are each presented in their own unique animation, the sequel doubles down on that idea not only with new characters featured in new styles, but with full worlds that are beautiful enough to conjure tears. Gwen’s world is breathtaking, as every frame feels like it is hand painted and backgrounds melt into dripping color palettes that reflect the mood temperature… but that’s just a single example. Spider Punk is an aesthetic wonder, as he is too much of a rebel to maintain the same look from moment to moment that he is screen, and your eyes won’t get sufficiently wide enough to drink in everything to see in Pavitr Prabhakar’s home of Mumbattan and Miguel O’Hara’s Nueva York.

It should be noted that the film is deliberately constructed to be a “Part 2 of 3” story, featuring a third act that is built to be more about cliffhangers than conclusions – but not to be ignored in the big picture plotting is the successful evolution of the main characters and craft that brings it to life. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is a genius success unto itself… but audiences are also going to exit the theater counting down the seconds until Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse arrives in 2024.

Kanye West has been relatively quiet since his anti-Semitic comments and other controversial behavior resulted in the loss of several business partnerships last fall. In that time, he’s apparently gotten married — though not legally — and been seen out with the children he shares with ex-wife Kim Kardashian. But his often-explosive Instagram account has remained silent, even after his reported 30-day ban was lifted late last year. This weekend he returned, however, with more comments about his feelings on Jewish people after watching 21 Jump Street, and co-director Chris Miller had his own response.

It was apparently Jonah Hill’s performance in the 2012 buddy comedy co-starring Channing Tatum that made Kanye West “like Jewish people again,” according to the disgraced rapper on Instagram. Christopher Miller — one half of the genius directing duo behind the 21 Jump Street adaptation, along with Phil Lord — posted a screenshot of Ye’s latest sentiments to his own Instagram account with the comment: 

Like the rest of us, it seems like Christopher Miller might not know exactly what to think of Ye’s supposed revelation and praise for Jonah Hill, who is Jewish. Keeping in line with the comments on Kanye West’s post, the reaction on Miller’s page was mixed, with some taking the opportunity to agree with the compliments given to the Moneyball actor and the decade-old comedy, and others commenting on West himself. Some said they continued to hope he’s getting the help he needs, and others said this post really didn’t change anything.

After initially posting the screenshot, Christopher Miller seemed to find more words to articulate his takeaway, and he hit the comments section of his post to say:

If Kanye West is going to find true redemption for his past anti-Semitic comments, it’s likely going to take more than praising the performance of one Jewish actor in a movie. Also, plenty of people are probably intrigued to see if Ye is going to follow his words up with actions that would support this apparent change of heart.

The 24-time Grammy winner lost his billionaire status after Adidas and several other brands parted ways with him in the aftermath of numerous anti-Jewish comments. (Adidas itself lost over a billion dollars after dropping the rapper.) Vogue, Balenciaga, Def Jam and others also severed their relationships with Ye, who not only doubled down on his offensive statements but had also engaged in other controversial behavior at the time, including wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt to a Paris fashion show and making false statements about George Floyd’s 2020 murder.

We’ll have to keep our eye on things to see if Kanye West is in fact trying to redeem himself in the eyes of the public. Yet in the meantime, you cans also enjoy Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum’s buddy cop action comedy, 21 Jump Street, which is available for streaming with a Netflix subscription. You can also see what other films are hitting theaters soon with our 2023 new movie release schedule. 

It has been over a year since we last heard an update about 48 Hours In Vegas – the upcoming based-on-a-true-story feature about controversial NBA star Dennis Rodman. The good news today is that that the info drought is now over, as it appears as though the project has found a talented rising star to play the lead role. Should negotiations go as planned, the developing movie will feature Loki's Jonathan Majors as the notorious Chicago Bulls player.

This update comes to us from Deadline, which says that a deal has not been officially signed but that the two parties are getting close in the talks. The movie is being produced by Phil Lord, Chris Miller and Aditya Sood (the talented filmmakers behind the animated Spider-Verse movies), and a script has been developed by Jordan VanDina (who wrote the 2020 comedy The Binge and for Hulu's Animaniacs reboot). 

48 Hours In Vegas won't be a biopic that covers Dennis Rodman's entire basketball career, as it instead will wholly focus on a two day period in 1998 when Rodman was playing in the 1998 NBA Finals and decided to go on an excursion to Las Vegas with the Chicago Bulls' assistant general manager. The story gained recent notoriety thanks to the 2020 Michael Jordan-centric documentary series The Last Dance (which you can stream in its entirety with a Netflix subscription).

Jonathan Majors is unquestionably one of Hollywood's most exciting stars at the moment, and not only because he is set up to be the next Thanos-level big bad in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The actor first started turning heads in 2019 with his supporting role in the A24 movie The Last Black Man In San Francisco, and he's further established himself as a legitimate talent with the HBO series Lovecraft Country and the Netflix western The Harder They Fall. 

Majors' next film, the period war film Devotion, will be arriving in theaters this November, and he will be featured as the central antagonist in the upcoming marvel movie Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania, which hits the big screen in February 2023. Audiences will also soon see him opposite Michael B. Jordan in the upcoming Creed III, which is on track to come out on March 3, 2023.

Given Jonathan Majors' gifts as a performer, it's easy to imagine him doing amazing things playing Dennis Rodman in 48 Hours In Vegas, but one interesting challenge the production will have is properly depicting the proper height of the film's subject. Majors isn't short (he's listed as being 6'0" in his IMDb Pro bio), but Rodman is 6'7". One would assume that the production will be employing some fun filmmaking tricks to create authenticity.

48 Hours In Vegas has a home at Lionsgate, with the studio purchasing the rights to the spec script when it hit the market, but a release date has not yet been announced. You can check out all of the films that do have set dates in the coming months via our 2022 Movie Release Calendar, and preview everything set to come out next year with our 2023 film schedule.

There are popular movie franchises, and then there’s the Star Wars movies. The galaxy far, far away has entertained audiences for decades, although there have been a few bumps in the road during recent years. This includes the production of Solo, with Ron Howard recently explaining what it was like taking over the Star Wars movie-- and his relationship with original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller.

During filming for Solo: A Star Wars Story, Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired, to the shock of the generations of fans out there. Ron Howard was brought in to complete the project, while Lord and Miller would later earn an Oscar for their work on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. During a conversation with THR, Howard opened up about what it was like stepping into the drama to complete the standalone film, saying:

What a class act. It sounds like Ron Howard understood what a tense moment he was entering into with Solo: A Star Wars Story. And while the Happy Days icon was tasked with completing the spinoff starring Alden Ehrenreich, he was also in contact with Chris Miller and Phil Lord. This no doubt helped the passing of the torch happen with minimal interruption to production.

Chris Miller and Phil Lord were ultimately let go by Lucasfilm reportedly after having creative differences over Solo: A Star Wars Story. The story of the filmmakers being escorted off set broke the internet, and immediately had folks concerned about the contents of the standalone film. And in the end it would be the first financial flop of the Star Wars franchise. 

Despite Solo’s poor box office performance, there has still been plenty of talks about a potential sequel among fans of the galaxy far, far away. Indeed, there were a number of narrative seeds planted for a follow-up, including the return of Maul and hints at Jabba the Hutt. It remains to be seen if Lucasfilm will ever change its mind and continue that story. In fact it’s currently unclear when Star Wars as a whole will return to theaters.

From the looks of it, the next Star Wars movie hitting theaters will be the one currently in development with director Taika Waititi. In the meantime, check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. 

While Spider-Man has always been one of the most popular characters in comics, and on the big screen, no Spidey adventure was perhaps quite as loved as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The film’s incredible critical and box office success has spawned a couple of massive Spider-Verse sequels that are currently in production, but producer Christopher Miller is now trying to manage expectations a bit, as the movie may not be quite as massive as you’ve heard.

When producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller took the stage at CinemaCon this week, where they showed off 15 minutes of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse they were quoted as saying that the new Spider-Verse movie had the largest crew of any animated movie that came before. They also said that massive crew translated into the film having 240 characters. If that number seemed a bit excessive, it sort of is. Miller took to Twitter to clarify that the movie has 240 character character models, not 240 important, speaking, characters. Miller said…

To be sure, the 240 character models that will apparently appear in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is still an incredible and massive achievement. The last movie reportedly only had about 40 character models. But if the massive number of characters was giving anybody the impression that the new film was simply going to be too big, they can relax. The story will still be more intimate, focusing on a much smaller group of important characters.

We know that Stan Lee’s “cameo” in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse extends beyond his spoken words of dialogue as the character model was actually used multiple times to help fill out the background of the film. Now, with this movie’s massive crew, they’re able to model a lot more characters. 

And these characters are probably quite diverse as well. Lord and Miller also said at CinemaCon that the movie takes place across six different universes. In the first movie we saw many characters from different universes, but we only saw the briefest glimpses at what those universes actually looked like. It sounds like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will go to many more places, and depending on just how different they are, we could see some very unique characters in the background.

Based on the early reaction to the first 15 minutes of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the new film is looking as good as its predecessor. While we originally thought we would see the next Spider-Verse movie this year, it has been delayed to next summer. That massive crew is being given all the time they need to make something special.  

Spider-Man is one of the most popular Marvel superheroes of all time, and as such he’s been adapted for film in various Marvel movies throughout the years. While Tom Holland is playing the hero in live-action, Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s animated blockbuster Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse was a massive success that even won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. And it turns out there’s some huge ways that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is breaking the franchise’s own records.

This week is CinemaCon, and various highly anticipated blockbusters presented new information and glimpses into their contents. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is no exception, with the first awesome footage revealed and directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller personally hyping up its contents. CinemaBlend was there to hear it all, with the filmmakers explaining why they wanted to expand the scope of the burgeoning franchise by saying:

Points were made. Part of what made audiences and critics respond so strongly to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was because the animated 2018 blockbuster had such an ambitious, original take on the web slinger’s mythology. So in order to do a satisfying sequel, the same need for innovation was key to Across the Spider-Verse.

So how exactly did the animated sequel break its own records? To start, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has exceeded the record for the most crew members working on an animated movie. Funny enough, the first movie also had this honor back in 2018. As Miller and Lord shared:

Clearly production in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is going to be a massive one. The first movie featured trippy and stunning visuals that really felt like a comic book come to life. And all those extra crew members will be necessary to make the sequel a reality. Namely because the mysterious story will be set across multiverse universes, rather than simply focusing on the home of Miles Morales. The filmmakers teased:

Well, color me intrigued. Clearly Phil Lord and Chris Miller are going to greatly expand the new franchise in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. The 2018’s Into The Spider-Verse introduced a number of different web slinging heroes, so perhaps we’ll get to enter their respective universes in the highly anticipated sequel. Only time will tell.

Following a recent delay, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is currently expected to arrive in theaters on June 2nd, 2023. In the meantime, check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. 

Back in 2018, Sony Pictures Animation successfully blew our minds with the release of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. The movie introduced us to a very new version of the titular web-slinger, and audiences around the world were left agog watching what can be called one of the most ambitious and impressive animated features of all time. Fans have been chomping at the bit ever since waiting for the big screen return of Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy in Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse – and while we recently learned that our wait for has been extended, with the blockbuster delayed until 2023, our excitement for the film has reached new levels this evening thanks to the Sony presentation at CinemaCon 2022.

The annual Las Vegas convention for theater owners launched tonight with Sony hosting a show inside Caesar's Palace's Colosseum, and while there was a lot of celebrating the box office success of last year's Spider-Man: No Way Home, easily one of the most thrilling parts of the event were the updates about Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. It was back in December that we first got a sneak peak at the upcoming comic book movie, but tonight the crowd at CinemaCon was treated to the first fifteen minutes of the in-development film – the footage put together using very rough animation. 

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse doesn't begin in Earth-1610 – the universe inhabited by Miles Morales – and instead the movie opens by providing us with our first in-depth look at Earth-64, which is the universe where Gwen Stacy a.k.a. Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld) lives. 

We see her arrive back home after a round of vigilante action, and we instantly get the sense that things aren't going well in the environment. Her father, Captain George Stacy of the NYPD, is convinced that Spider-Woman is a harmful force in the city, and has been trying to arrest her. Meanwhile, Gwen has had to keep her superhero identity a secret, knowing that her dad won't understand. 

Shortly after she arrives home, a call goes out on the radio for officers to respond to an attack by the Vulture at the Guggenheim Museum, and Captain Stacy heads out the door. What he doesn't know, obviously, is that Gwen is right behind him after she suits up in her bedroom. 

Arriving on the scene, Spider-Woman starts by webbing up her father and one of his colleagues, and she charges into the museum ready to save the day. What she doesn't see coming, however, is that the Vulture who is attacking isn't the Adrian Toomes of Earth-64, but instead is a newcomer from the multiverse who has an Italian accent and a sepia coloring. 

The hero and villain scuffle, and for a brief moment it looks like Spider-Woman may die... but then a strange portal opens up above them. From out of this interdimensional hole arrives Miguel O'Hara (Oscar Isaac), the Spider-Man from futuristic Earth-928 (who we first met in the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse). As it turns out, Miguel is mighty pissed at Gwen because he has been cleaning up a mess that he views her as being partially responsible for – namely the explosion of Kingpin's collider in Earth-1610. 

While the Spider-People fight with Vulture, Gwen tells the mysterious new web-slinger that she and her friends saved the multiverse through their actions, but he argues that a door was left open for other villains to move across realities... like this new version of Adrian Toomes.

When Vulture ends up getting the upper hand, Miguel resentfully calls on his assistant, Lyla (Greta Lee), to get him some backup, and in arrives another hero via portal: Jessica Drew a.k.a. Spider-Woman of Earth-404 (voiced by Issa Rae). She rides a motorcycle through the museum and joins Miguel and Gwen in the brawl – with Gwen being particularly shocked by the fact that this mystery woman is crimefighting while five months pregnant.

Vulture makes a dash towards the skylight roof of the building, setting off explosives that cause the glass to shatter, and Miguel grapples with him in the open air. Their battle is briefly halted by a police helicopter, though it proves more dangerous than helpful, as the winged villain hits the whirly bird and it starts to crash. Thankfully, Gwen, Miguel, and Jessica have the skills to save the pilots and web up the flying vehicle before it can hit the ground, and at the same time they are able to subdue Adrian Toomes.

As things get calm, Gwen is confronted by Captain Stacy, who holds his gun on her and tells her that she is under arrest for the murder of Peter Parker. With no other options, Gwen takes off her mask and tells her father the truth... but it does no good. He still plans on arresting her. This devastating moment is then interrupted by Miguel, who contains Captain Stacy in a force field. Miguel is ready to leave, but Jessica says that they can't just leave Gwen, who tells them that she doesn't know what to do. Miguel tells her to join the club, and tosses her what appears to be some kind of wrist-worn interdimensional travel device.

Meanwhile, in his own universe, Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is extremely late for a meeting between the principal of his school (Rachel Dratch) and his parents (Luna Lauren Velez, Brian Tyree Henry). Miles is hoping that he can take part in a quantum physics program at Columbia University, but his mother worries about him being outside of Brooklyn... even though he'll still actually be in New York. He knows that people can teach him what he wants to learn, and they aren't all within his home neighborhood.

As Miles makes his case for pursuing his dreams, he is suddenly struck by his spider-sense, and has to make a quick exit – and his father, who you'll remember is a police officer, basically follows him out the door when he gets an emergency call. Miles' mom is left alone with the school administrator, and she drops a hard truth on him, saying, "He’s lying to you – your son. He’s lying and I think you know it."

Because the footage was so rough, it obviously didn't have the same kind of unique and breathtaking quality that the finished Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse has, but the scope of the story from what we got to see is incredible. It's beyond exciting that we'll be getting to see the animators play with a wide variety of aesthetics as the narrative bounces between different dimensions, and all of the characters are so vivid and emotional that it's impossible not to instantly be caught up in their individual dramas. This movie can't get here soon enough.

Directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson, and set to feature the voices of Oscar Isaac, Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Jake Johnson, and Issa Rae, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now scheduled to arrive in theaters on June 2, 2023 (with Part II, now titled Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse, currently set for March 2024). Stay tuned for more updates about the movie here on CinemaBlend, and keep on the look out this week for many more major updates from the film world out of CinemaCon.

In the meantime, you can learn about all upcoming releases this year by heading over to our 2022 Movie Release Calendar.

Writer/Director duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller join the show to discuss the finale of their new Apple TV+ show The Afterparty. We dive into plenty of spoilers so be warned, and series star Ben Schwartz joins in on the fun! 

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Yesterday, the world lost another great talent in writer/director/producer Ivan Reitman who passed away at the age of 75. Reitman was best known for directing the first two Ghostbusters movies, and producing the more recent entries of the franchise. But Reitman has been a huge part of Hollywood for decades, and so a lot of people are remembering Reitman, not just those from inside the Ghostbusters franchise.

Ernie Hudson, who appeared in all the Ghostbusters movies, responded to the news that Ivan Reitman had passed away by sending his condolences to the family of the lost man, including his son, writer/director Jason Reitman, who recently worked with his father on Ghostbusters: Afterlife.  

Fellow Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd also made a statement to Deadline where he said he was heartbroken at the death of Reitman and you can feel that in the statement.

Ivan Reitman produced the most recent Ghostbusters film, which was directed by his son Jason. A couple of the key cast members who joined the Ghostbusters franchise with the newest movie also shared their thoughts. Carrie Coon, who played the daughter of Harold Ramis’ iconic Ghostbusters character  said it was an “honor” to work with Reitman and to become part of the film series loved by so many.

While Carrie Coon had some powerful things to say about Ivan Reitman, co-star Mckenna Grace had none. She simply posted a picture of herself and Reitman working together on the set of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and added a heart. No words were needed here. 

Love also came to Jason Reitman from Paul Feig, director of the Ghostbusters spinoff project Answer the Call. While that particular film in the franchise has always struggled, Reitman was apparently always supportive of it and those that made it.  

While Ivan Reitman’s name will be synonymous with Ghostbusters forever, he made many more memorable movies. He directed Meatballs, Stripes, Dave, Kindergarten Cop and Twins. He also had a profound impact on the careers of many other filmmakers. Joker director Todd Philips wrote a lengthy Instagram post about the influence that Reitman had on his career. Ivan Reitman produced Philips' earliest features, but also did a lot more… 

Phil Lord posted to Twitter on Ivan Reitman’s passing with similar comments, talking about how supportive he was of his work with co-director Christopher Miller. he was supportive, but he always tried to help them be better. Lord said…

Ivan Reitman clearly made a mark in Hollywood that will be remembered forever. He made great movies that will stand the test of time but he also inspired a generation of filmmakers that have already gone on to make their own mark. He will not soon be forgotten.

When you look at what modern Star Wars is, especially recently with The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, one thing that is clear is that fan service is a key component of what Lucasfilm wants to provide. If you haven’t seen The Clone Wars and Rebels then a lot of what is going on with the Disney+ series is just going over your head. Fan service is something of a double edged sword, however, and two guys who were very nearly part of the modern Star Wars universe, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, have a different approach to it.  

Whatever you think of Solo: A Star Wars Story, the movie itself will likely never be quite as interesting as the story around its creation. Originally the directing duo of Phil Lord and Chris Miller were tapped to make the film, but a significant way through production they were unceremoniously let go and Ron Howard came in to finish the project, reportedly reshooting large portions of it. The movie we ended up getting, while it has its fans, was not warmly embraced by the audience or the critics. 

Solo ended up with its share of fan service references and call backs too, but Lord and Miller say they specifically try to avoid fan service, at least in the traditional ways,  because they don’t think fans actually want quite what they think they want. As Lord explained to The Business Podcast (via Playlist)…

Phil Lord isn’t the first one to say it, but when you give the audience exactly what they’re expecting, it can lose the power that the moment might otherwise have. The trick is to give them not what they think they want, but what they don’t actually realize they want. 

To be fair, Star Wars doesn’t seem to be having much of a problem. While Solo: A Star Wars Story didn’t really work, every time a character from The Clone Wars arrives in a live-action Disney+ series, the fans seem to love it. 

Still, all that, as fun as it might be, has the potential to feel soulless. There’s a fine line between “doing it for the fans” and “doing it for the fans because that will help the bottom-line.” Chris Miller seems to feel this latter idea is often where “fan service” comes from and that’s part of why it’s a problem. He explains…

With the success that Star Wars seems to be having with fan service, it probably isn’t going anywhere any time soon, but the words of Lord and Miller here are certainly worth taking into account. With so many franchises looking for success by expanding their universes, making fan service work is a slippery slope. 

We all know Hollywood loves a good (and sometimes not-so-good) crossover. But for every unexpected mash-up of movies or characters, there are probably a few that never made it to the big screen. One notorious example is the now-abandoned crossover between Men in Black and 21 Jump Street. While we’ll never get to see Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill suit up and wipe memories with the MIB, Phil Lord and Chris Miller have offered some insights into what the film might have been like. 

In 2012, 21 Jump Street became the rare TV-to-movie adaptation that was actually good. It was also a big enough hit to spawn a 2014 sequel and, soon after that, rumors of a potentially wild crossover with another major franchise: Men In Black. The plans for combining the two seemingly uncombinable stories eventually fizzled. But Jump Street co-director Phil Lord revealed on the Happy Sad Confused Podcast that it got a lot closer to becoming a reality than you might think:

Believe it or not, the efforts to make a 21 Jump Street/Men in Black flick got so far that there were even rumors of a director being hired for the project. And Chris Miller said they bandied about some pretty funny ways to expand the MIB universe to fit Channing Tatum and Jonah Hills’ hapless undercover cops: 

Okay, that does sound pretty funny. But by 2019, the plans for the movie were permanently scrapped. Phil Lord and Chris Miller eventually revealed the 21 Jump Street/Men In Black crossover failed because the worlds were deemed too different to make sense together in a film. Sadly, they may have salvaged both film series from a mashup that just wouldn’t have worked, but neither has thrived in the years since. 

Sony attempted a reboot with Men In Black: International, but it failed to resonate with fans. And we’re still waiting to see what happens next with the Jump Street series – it’s been years since there was news about a female-fronted spin-off. While we can’t expect to see either of these series coming back any time soon, at least there are plenty of other 2022 new movie releases to look forward to. 

Solo: A Star Wars Story is an unusual entry in the Star Wars movies lineup. In addition to being the film series’ lowest-grossing entry (making only $393 million worldwide), this 2018 sci-fi adventure also stands out from the other cinematic tales set in a galaxy far, far away by having switched directors in the middle of principal photography. Phil Lord and Chris Miller were originally tapped to direct the Han Solo prequel, and recently Lord recollected on their original vision for the feature, as well as the upside to him and Miller not getting to complete it.

For those who didn’t follow along with Solo: A Star Wars Story’s development, Phil Lord and Chris Miller exited the movie in June 2017, approximately 75% of the way into shooting, due to “creative differences” with Lucasfilm, and Ron Howard was brought aboard to assume directing duties. During their appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, host Josh Horowitz inquired with the duo about their time on the Star Wars movie, and here’s what Lord had to say:

It boiled down to Phil Lord and Chris Miller wanting to bring a different sensibility to making Solo: A Star Wars Story, and they’d already impressed in Hollywood with the Jump Street movies and The LEGO Movie, among other projects. Plus, because Solo was a standalone Star Wars movie rather than directly connected to the main Skywalker Saga, they probably felt that they’d be allowed more freedom with depicting Han Solo’s origin story.

Unfortunately for Phil Lord and Chris Miller, their approach for Solo: A Star Wars Story differed too much from what Lucasfilm wanted for the movie, and as Phil Lord put it back in late 2017, this was “too big” of a bridge to gap. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy echoed this sentiment shortly before Solo was released, saying how the divide came down to differing work styles. As a silver lining though, the duo walked away from their Star Wars experience with knowledge and lessons they’ve applied to other projects since then. In Lord’s words:

Phil Lord and Chris Miller ultimately accepted being credited as executive producers on the final version of Solo: A Star Wars Story. Ron Howard also acknowledged that while he ended up taking “some of the sequences in different directions and experimented with them,” Lord and Miller’s “fingerprints” were still all over the movie alongside his own distinct stamps. One of the big ways Solo changed under Howard’s watchful eye was Paul Bettany being recast as Dryden Vox when Michael K. Williams couldn’t return for the reshoots, which also resulted in the character being changed from a “half mountain lion, half human”-looking alien to a near-human life form. Howard also reshot the reunion between Alden Ehrenreich’s Han Solo and Emilia Clarke’s Qi’ra.

Although Solo: A Star Wars Story never got a sequel (despite many fans wanting Solo 2 to happen), Qi’ra has recently resurfaced in the Star Wars comics. We’ll be sure to share if any other major elements from Solo are followed up on in other Star Wars projects. Phil Lord and Chris Miller's next movie, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One) (which they produced and co-wrote with David Callaham) opens in theaters on October 7.

As far as Marvel superheroes go, there are few that are quite as popular as Spider-Man. And while fans are still reeling from the dizzying events of No Way Home, a sequel to the Oscar-winning Into The Spider-Verse is on its way. And producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller recently explained why they had so much fun making the sequel.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a critical darling when it hit theaters back in 2018, debuting glorious new visuals and helping the general public fall in love with Miles Morales. The sequel Across the Spider-Verse will arrive in the fall of this year, and it sounds like Lord and Miller had an even more enjoyable ride the second time around. As Lord recently explained,

That makes a ton of sense. Making Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a major risk, combining an ambitious story with a protagonist that average moviegoers didn’t already know. But now that the movie was a hit and they even got an Academy Award, it’s clear that the filmmakers had more confidence for Across the Spider-Verse. 

Phil Lord’s comments come from a conversation with IndieWire about the duo’s recent animated movie The Mitchells Vs. The Machines, which also has Award Season potential. Eventually the conversation turned to their Spidey franchise, where the duo were able to give a brief but enticing tease about their process. After all, Across the Spider-Verse will be here before we know it.

While information about Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is limited, the first footage from the highly anticipated animated blockbuster recently arrived– to the joy of moviegoers. As a reminder, you can check out the brief but exciting teaser below,

It’s clear that a number of comic book properties are leaning into the idea of the multiverse, both in live-action and via animation. The MCU used this concept in both Loki and Spider-Man: No Way Home, while DC will follow suit with Ezra Miller’s Flash movie. But Into the Spider-Verse broke new ground in that regard, and proved how timeline-altering crossover projects could resonate with audiences. 

Given just how massive the first Spider-Verse movie was, there’s no telling what Miller and Lord have in store for the sequel– especially if they were feeling more confident throughout the process. Hopefully we’ll be treated to even more versions of the wall crawler than the original movie– which already featured quite a few. Fans already can’t wait to spend some time with Oscar Isaac’s Spider-Man 2099, who was teased in the credits scene of the first movie.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is currently expected to arrive exclusively in theaters on October 7th. In the meantime, check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.