With the current numbers Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is pulling at the box office (hint: its ironclad critical reception was an omen), one has to wonder exactly what the secret ingredient to its success is; why can a movie like this fly so much higher than other, less-fortunate comic book films?
The reality is that there’s no one secret ingredient; there’s just a whole bunch of smaller ingredients that have every intention on making the best story possible. Indeed, from the animation team to the voice actors to the directors, Across the Spider-Verse is the result of nigh-untouchable artistic talents eclipsed only by the harmony between them.
And guess what other occupation was integral to the success of Across the Spider-Verse? We’ll give you a hint: it rhymes with “fighters.”
In case it isn’t clear, Spider-Verse would never have gotten its snappy, gut-busting dialogue and bone-cutting emotional beats without the work of the writing team, and one would think the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers would take stuff like that into account by now, but here we are, entering week five of the writers strike.
In a recent interview with Deadline, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who masterminded Across the Spider-Verse‘s script with David Callaham and also served as producers, wasted no time in delivering their sobering, matter-of-fact take on the writers strike.
The thing to keep in mind which is simple to understand is that writers pay is down 25 percent and budgets are up and executive compensation is up. It’s not sustainable that way. I think a fair deal is absolutely within reach.
Indeed, if there was ever a model point of view on this whole debacle, this would be it. Across the Spider-Verse, and most every film out there, for that matter, would be nowhere near the heights they occupy without the scribes that anchor their stories, and it’s high time that writers’ compensation reflected that.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now playing in theaters.
Published: Jun 6, 2023 02:04 am