Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse might be further off than most fans anticipated.
During a recent podcast appearance, Peter B. Parker voice actor Jake Johnson confirmed that he hasn't recorded any dialogue yet for the highly-anticipated third installment.
One of the most prevalent animation filmmaking rules is that the audio comes first, followed by the animation. Voice actors will record their lines before the animation is finished, providing animators with critical timing and emotional cues.
During recording, it is common to have only preliminary sketches or storyboards available, allowing for flexibility and improvisation based on the actor's performance. This method ensures that the animation matches the language flow and character expressions exactly. For example, Disney Animation and Pixar movies record dialogue first.
Here's Johnson's response when asked what he's completed on the film.
"Nothing. Well, I will say, I can’t say anything about (the release date), but I will say with recording of actors, things can go fast. So, my not recording truly means nothing. If you find out the animators hadn’t started animating, then that’s a different thing. But there’s Really no breaking news from a voiceover actor. Even if we try to break it. If they wanted to… like I did a movie for Wildwood Studios. I might be saying that wrong. If I am, I feel embarrassed. But I recorded my entire role in one day."
Johnson is likely referencing his role in the upcoming Laika Studios (Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings) stop-motion animated pic, Wildwood.
Alternatively, studios will sometimes hire amateur voice actors to record dialogue to give to the animators to use as a reference. This is called "scratch." Utilizing this method, the real voice actors are then able to record their lines after the animation is complete.
However, it's unlikely a big-budget feature such as Beyond the Spider-Verse would utilize this method. It's hard to imagine a production of this size looking to have animators working off of anything other than what the main voice cast has provided.
Though Peter B. Parker took a backseat somewhat in Across the Spider-Verse, the cliffhanger ending seems to imply that he'll be returning to a more prominent role in Beyond the Spider-Verse.
Recently, Phil Lord and Chris Miller promised to deliver a satisfying conclusion for fans while walking the red carpet at this year's Golden Globes awards ceremony.
An animated spin-off series centered on Hailee Steinfeld's Spider-Gwen and Issa Rae's Jessica Drew has already been confirmed to be in development at Sony, and there's already talk of a live-action version of the Spider-Verse movie.
Unfortunately, there is still no confirmed release date for Beyond the Spider-Verse. Current estimates suggest it might not arrive until late-2025, though this remains speculative.