Bob Persichetti on Beyond the Spider-Verse's 'Limitless' Hype — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Bob Persichetti, co-director (with Justin K. Thompson) of Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, told Sony Pictures Animation president Kristine Belson at the Crunchyroll Anime Future Forum that 'expectations are kind of limitless' for the third installment.
- Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse is slated for a June 2027 release; Sony showed work-in-progress footage (first screened at CinemaCon in April) but is withholding an official teaser.
- The 2018 original Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and earned $395 million globally; Across the Spider-Verse (2023) grossed $690.5 million and was nominated for Best Animated Feature, losing to The Boy and the Heron.
- Persichetti said the franchise proved animated films can be 'unorthodox' and still succeed commercially, noting audiences 'are fine with the image changing every shot,' enabling the films' signature visual variety.
- Writer-producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller remain involved, and Persichetti said the team has 'never said no to an idea' — instead stress-testing concepts repeatedly to see what sticks.
- Persichetti framed the original film as 'really a movie about Miles and his family' and 'a love letter to New York, hip-hop music, and Spider-Man,' not just a visual showcase.
- On the first film, Persichetti recalled, the team was 'exploring things that nobody believed in, and at first we weren't even sure worked' — a stance the studio now trusts after two successful pictures.
Why it matters: Sony is betting on a 2027 release date for a franchise whose last entry grossed $690.5 million and whose studio trust has grown from 'nobody believed in it' to giving directors 'probably way more [creative leeway] than others do.' The 'limitless' expectations Persichetti names set a remarkably high creative bar for an animated property that has already redefined what the genre can do commercially and stylistically.
Ask SkimNews
