As the use of AI in movies has become a hot-button debate in Hollywood, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse co-producer Chris Miller confirms that the technology will not be incorporated into the upcoming animated movie.
“There is no generative AI in Beyond the Spider-Verse, and there never will be,” Miller said on Twitter X in response to a user who tweeted Sony Animation to keep AI away from the movie. “One of the main goals of the films is to create new visual styles that have never been seen in a studio CG film, not steal the generic plagiarized average of other artists’ work.”
Miller’s comments were made in the wake of Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Tony Vinciquerra‘s controversial statement during a Japanese investor conference that the studio was exploring AI as a cost-cutting measure for future productions. As the previous Spider-Verse installments achieved worldwide critical acclaim and accolades for their ground-breaking combination of animated CGI and hand-drawn comic book style, Miller explained to Fortune Magazine last year how AI could prevent cinematic innovation rather than enhance it.
“The AI isn’t going to generate something new and original,” Miller said. “It’s going to just do an imitation of the things that came before it. It’s our job as humans to keep making things new.”
When will Beyond the Spider-Verse get released?
Originally scheduled for release on March 29, 2024, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse was delayed due to the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes in 2023. Additionally, producers Miller and Phil Lord are looking to take the time to get the quality of the upcoming threequel to their standards after members of the animation team went public with allegations of poor working conditions on Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
While the plot remains under wraps, Miller says that the threequel will serve as the endgame for the intertwining stories of Miles Morales/Spider-Man (Shameik Moore) and Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld).
“What we’re trying to accomplish with the film is have it be the most satisfying conclusion to the story that it can be, and take it to places that you haven’t been before,” Miller said. “And make you laugh and cry, and cheer and think.”
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse does not have a release date.
