The Untold Secrets Behind the Exclusion of Spider-Verse Short Film in Previous Releases

Highlights

The Spider Within, a 7-minute Spider-Man short film with a hint of horror, has not been widely released due to complicated film rights issues.

Sony's LENS program endeavors to offer leadership opportunities to marginalized communities, resulting in the creation of The Spider Within as a key component of this endeavor.

Despite its significant anticipation, The Spider Within was unfortunately excluded from both the recent digital and physical releases of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

The Spider-Man universe continues to expand with multiple Spider-Verse films already released and another in development. However, there is one short film that fans have unfortunately been unable to access in previous releases.

Titled "The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story," this 7-minute film adds a touch of horror to the Spider-Man franchise. Produced by Sony under their Sony Pictures Imageworks' LENS program, which aims to empower and support new storytellers from underrepresented groups, this unique Spider-Man film premiered at the Annecy Film Festival in June of this year. Although it will also be shown at the Animation Is Film Festival on October 21st, it has yet to receive a wide release to fans.

An animator working on the project explained why the Spider-Man film did not receive a widespread release. Vong Yonghow, who was involved in both Spider-Verse films and The Spider Within, retweeted a post by Culture Crave regarding the synopsis of the Spider-Man short film. Yonghow mentioned, “I simultaneously worked on this #SpiderVerse short film while working on the main film. It's a shame it wasn't included as an extra on the Blu-ray release (the rights situation is quite complicated, I understand). Hopefully, it will receive a broader release so that more people can see it.” This confirms that the short film has not been widely released due to the complicated web of screen rights surrounding Spider-Man.

In 1999, Marvel sold the film rights for Spider-Man to Sony, while the TV rights eventually went to Disney. Additionally, Amazon holds some rights to the character, evident in their production of various Spider-Man spinoff series on Prime, such as the Silk series and the Spider-Man Noir series. These rights and contracts are intricate and not widely disclosed to the public. It is possible that Sony lacks the rights to distribute a 7-minute short film.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has been released digitally and physically, featuring several alterations from its theatrical version. However, fans who anticipated the inclusion of the short film were left disappointed as it was absent in both releases.

The precise rights complications preventing a wider distribution of the short film remain unknown to fans. Unless Sony can negotiate a deal with the entity in charge of distribution rights, it appears unlikely that fans will have access to it. With the anticipated delay of Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse due to ongoing actors' strike negotiations, fans eagerly await any new Spider-Man content in the meantime.

Source: Vong Yongchow