Back when Sony was looking to reboot a live-action version of Spider-Man after Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire’s run on the movie franchise, there was a lot of support from the fan community to have Miles Morales take the lead. That ultimately never happened with Andrew Garfield leading two films as Peter Parker, before the Parker character was rebooted again, now with Tom Holland playing him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This has left fans of Miles in the dust, waiting to see the beloved character be featured in a film.
Their hopes appeared to be coming true when Sony announced an animated Spider-Man film was in development and had attached LEGO Movie writers/directors Chris Lord and Phil Miller as producers to the project. Just recently, an alleged casting call pointed to Miles being the lead in the animated Spider-Man film. Now Sony Animation has gone and made the news official.
Sony has finally confirmed that Miles Morales will be the lead of the officially-untitled Animated Spider-Man Movie that Lord and Miller are working on. The announcement came as part of Sony’s Animation Day that also has them discussing all future projects. Early concept material for the film was shown, but what exactly it features has not yet been disclosed. Sony also confirmed that Bob Persichetti will be directing the animated Spider-Man film, and announced that Peter Ramsey (Rise of the Guardians) has joined him as a co-director.
Now that Sony has confirmed everyone’s suspicions that Miles would in fact be the star of this film, it marks the beginning of what they hope to be a long life in theaters. The animated version of Miles should be a great entry point for not only younger audiences to learn about Miles, but also the chance for Sony to expand the Miles fandom even further ahead of his eventual introduction in the MCU - even though that is likely some years away still.
While the film is set to star Miles, it will be interesting to see what other characters from the Spider-Man lore are included in this animated film. It is not entirely out of the realm of possibility for Peter Parker to still play a factor in the story, possibly as a mentor, and the same casting call that hinted towards Miles also made it appear his best friend Ganke could be in line for a role. Another recent rumor suggested that Prowler could be featured as well.
Should this film be successful, it could serve as an avenue for Sony to introduce other Spider-Man related characters in animated form to prepare audiences for an eventual introduction in the MCU. Sony surely would love for Miles to star in a trilogy of animated films, but they could also look to do Venom, Spider-Gwen, or a number of other titles in a similar form. Either way, it is great to see Miles take the spotlight now, and it will be interesting to see who they get to voice the young hero.
The Animated Spider-Man Movie (official title TBA) will open in U.S. theaters on December 21st, 2018.
Source: Sony
