At this point, everyone who’s watched Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse agrees that the sequel is nothing short of a masterpiece. The artwork of the Sony/Marvel title impresses even those who don’t care about animation as an art – but a new report shows that this doesn’t come free of charge. In a new report by Vulture, a slate of animators who worked on Across the Spider-Verse revealed that over 100 professionals from the art department left the project because they simply couldn’t take the pressure anymore.

The artists, who agreed to speak to Vulture as long as they remained anonymous, revealed that working conditions to come up with a project as ambitious (and expensive) as this are just not sustainable. They also revealed that it was common for alterations and revisions to be demanded on parts of the movie that had otherwise been approved, which created an overwhelming backlog across several departments that led dozens of professionals to just give up the project.

Spider-Verse Animators and Artists Worked Every Day For a Year

For those who stayed, this translated to working seven days a week for at least 11 hours throughout a whole year. According to the sources, even the work of trio of directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Justin K. Thompson, and Kemp Powers was undermined by Phil Lord (who directed Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and produced and wrote the sequel), who allegedly pushed for final approval for every sequence in the movie. Even though mega-producer Amy Pascal disputed the claims, she admits that it’s not surprising that the project involved major overhauls that forced people to quit.

“There’s No Way” Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse Will Premiere in 2024

Grueling hours and demanding workload seems to be the norm for animators and artists, since it’s not uncommon for these kinds of reports to come forward on big-budget animated movies. The executive vice-president and general manager of Sony Michelle Grady came forward to admit there is truth to the workers’ claims, but at the same time, she stated that this is just how it is:

“It really does happen on every film. Truly, honestly, it can be a little bit frustrating, but we always try to explain that this is the process.”

One of the four workers who spoke to Vulture also declared that “there’s no way” that Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse is coming out at the proposed release date, which currently is March 29, 2024. He suggests that both movies were not worked on at the same time, and they had “barely crossed the finish line” when it came time for the second movie to premiere.

Another professional revealed that one element that kept setting production back was the fact that Lord “had no idea what he wanted,” which in turn led to re-writes and hundreds of hours of work getting thrown in the trash. This pushed some animators to state categorically that they’re “never working on a Phil Lord movie ever again.” Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is breaking record after record when it comes to animation and the 2023 box office.

via Collider