Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has seen some changes. The recent digital release was slammed by fans after they discovered numerous lines were cut, with the home release significantly different from its original theatrical cuts.
Now, producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have explained what it’s all about, and why those changes were made.
“There was an international version that was made almost two months before the movie came out,” explained Miller to Total Film. “It had to be translated into different languages and these French censors have to decide what the rating of the movie is in Europe. The team at [Sony Pictures] Imageworks still had some shots that they felt they could do better for the finished version. So, they cleaned up and tweaked those things.”
That’s right – Sony was still working on the film, finishing off shots they were unhappy with. Miller added that the film’s crew took this opportunity to tweak things.
“Certain crew members – people in the sound department or on the animation team – were like, ‘Oh, could we do this instead?’ ” he explained. “Let’s do the best possible version we can. Because it’s a multiverse movie, it’s like there’s a multiverse of the movie – that was really the reasoning behind it. It was trying to make the best possible version that everyone was going to be the proudest of.”
Lord added: “I think most of the changes are improvements.”
Unfortunately, some fans disagree. Some of the most egregious changes seem to be cut lines, specifically when Miles says, “sorry man, I’m going home,” after his altercation with Miguel O’Hara aka Spider-Man 2099.
At least two different versions of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse debuted in theaters. However, while some fans were eager to see it as a play on the multiverse aspect of the movie, others believe it’s likely due to changes implemented when Sony swapped out the prints due to technical issues with the film’s audio. Now, the fact that Sony was still tweaking the movie seems to support that.
IGN’s Across the Spider-Verse review gave it 8/10 and said: “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse surges with visual inventiveness and vibrance in an undeniably strong evolution of the style established in Into the Spider-Verse.”
Want to read more about Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse? Find out how to watch Across the Spider-Verse at home as well as which theatrical version of the movie is now considered canon.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.