The ending to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was changed six weeks before the film was complete.
Speaking with Empire Magazine, via a tweet posted by Culture Crave, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse co-director Justin K. Thompson and producer Christopher Miller confirmed the ending to the animated Marvel sequel was changed within the final weeks of the movie’s production.
When asked if they were worried about the film’s initial ending, which didn’t see Gwen Stacy assemble a team to find Miles Morales, Thompson said, “I was really worried about it until about six weeks before we finished the movie, and we added it. The movie kind of fell flat at the end and was really a bummer. We had a screening and thankfully we were able to come up with the strategy of how to bring all these characters back together, and bring the Spot back — because he didn’t come back — and show Rio and Jeff, and tag all the characters.”
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse learned from Star Wars
Miller added, “We learned the same lesson that Empire Strikes Back learned. That movie used to end after he finds out the big twist and Han Solo gets taken away. They didn’t have the scene where he gets the new hand and they stare out at the star field. They did that as a reshoot, because they felt like they needed a little bit of hope for the next film. We learned that lesson. We were like, ‘It’s a cliffhanger, it’s supposed to end on a thing where you’re like, ‘Oh no!’’ So it ended with Miles meeting his alternate self and he’s trapped in an alternate dimension, oh no. But the audience really did need that moment of hope. Help is on the way. They’re gonna figure something out. If we were smarter, we would have learned that earlier.”
Released in June 2023, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was directed by Thompson, Joaquim Dos Santos, and Kemp Powers. The movie made $690 million at the worldwide box office with a budget of $100 million.
A sequel, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, is currently in the works, but was recently removed from Sony’s release schedule following allegations of difficult work conditions and the ongoing actors strike.
