New Directing Team Announced for SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE Sequel
A trio of new directors has been officially announced for the sequel of the highly-anticipated sequel to Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. This new trio of filmmakers includes Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson.
The original film was helmed by Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, and Bob Persichetti. Those guys did an awesome job with the first film, and these three new directors have high expectations to live up to! Producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller are also working on the script for the film with David Callaham (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings). One of the original directors of the film, Peter Ramsey, will executive produce.
The new directing team said in a joint statement, “The crew behind the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse set such a ridiculously high bar, and we’re humbled to take on the challenge of charting the next chapter in the story of Miles Morales.”
I hope they can hit that ridiculously high bar! This is the first feature film project for Dos Santos and Thompson. Dos Santos previously worked on projects such as The Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Voltron: Legendary Defender, Justice League Unlimited, and Teen Titans. Thompson worked as the production designer for the first Spider-Verse movie, and he was also the production designer on Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.
As for Powers, he is currently nominated for the Oscar for best adapted screenplay for the civil rights drama One Night in Miami. He’s also the co-director of Pixar Animation Studios’ Soul. Powers was also a writter on the first season for the CBS All Access series Star Trek: Discovery.
Lord and Miller said in a statement, “We are so lucky to have Joaquim, Justin and Kemp on the ‘Spider-Verse’ team. We are huge fans of Joaquim’s work — he makes his characters so heartfelt and unique, and he can tell an emotional story with an action sequence the way a musical does through a song. Justin is a maverick filmmaker who relentlessly pursues visual innovation and surprise but always in support of the emotional storytelling. Kemp’s work is incisive and ambitious and funny — with a writer’s wisdom and a director’s heart — he just knows what matters in every scene. All three of them elevate every project they take on, and they are certainly raising our game. We honestly just like them and want to be their friends and we’re hoping working on this movie together for the next few years will totally make that happen.”
The sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is scheduled to open in theaters on October 7, 2022. This first film is one of my all-time favorite animated films and I can’t wait to see what the sequel will bring us!
Source: Variety