Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Digital Release Imminent

With almost no advance notice, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse pre-orders have been charged on the digital sales and rental platform Vudu, suggesting that the film will be available extremely soon. Vudu, owned by movie ticketing giant Fandango, is one of the largest digital storefronts for movies and TV in North America. While some competitors charge buyers for their preorder when it's made, Vudu typically waits until the content is available before taking the money, at which point the movie or show will appear in the buyer's digital library. Sometimes, certain exclusive bonus features will be made available earlier than the movie, and Vudu will charge buyers at that time. In the case of Across the Spider-Verse, no movie or bonus content have yet been made available on Vudu, but yesterday, customers with outstanding preorders were charged, and the cover for the movie appears in customer libraries today. The release date says only "coming soon." That tracks, since Sony had not yet made an official announcement about the planned sale date for the movie.

Some sources yesterday started to indicate that the film would be available today, which follows normal preorder processes for the retailer, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It could be a hiccup in their system, similar to an issue they had earlier this year, when The Super Mario Bros. Movie was charged a week early, and briefly made available to preorder customers before Vudu noticed the error. In that case, it seems likely that Vudu accidentally changed the status of preorders when they received the movie files from Universal Studios. By that logic, the same might have happened with Across the Spider-Verse, suggesting that it will appear on the platform in the next week or two.

Had it been released today, Across the Spider-Verse would have joined a busy week for digital releases, competing with fellow superhero movie The Flash and Dreamworks's animated feature Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken for audience attention. Of course, during its theatrical run, Across the Spider-Verse outperformed both of those movies combined.The movie has been a huge hit, outgrossing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse by about $250 million globally to take home $663 million so far. While it remains in some theaters, its biggest weekends are likely behind it, and a digital release already seemed likely to be coming soon. 

With a 96% Rotten Tomatoes score (and 94% audience score), Across the Spider-Verse is one of the best-reviewed movies of 2023, and one of the most critically-acclaimed animated movies of all time. Into the Spider-Verse earned an Academy Award for Best Animated feature, and it's difficult to see Across the Spider-Verse not doing the same, particularly when some of the year's biggest potential competitors have been significantly less successful both financially and with critics. The only animated film bigger than Spider-Verse at the box office this year has been The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which is not exactly awards bait.

In Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Miles Morales / Spider-Man (Shameik Moore) goes on an adventure across the multiverse with Gwen Stacy / Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld) and a new team of Spider-People who must face a powerful villain. Also returning from the first film are Oscar Isaac as Miguel O'Hara / Spider-Man 2099, and Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker / Spider-Man. Issa Rae has also joined the cast as Jessica Drew / Spider-Woman.

Across the Spider-Verse is directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson, with a script from Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Dave Callaham.

"This is a situation where the movie was so ambitious, it was trying to do so many groundbreaking things in its visual style, in its storytelling style, in its cinematic style." Miller previously explained to ComicBook.com. "Everything about it ... The sound mix was probably going to be groundbreaking, so it required a lot of work. Every version of these movies is a collaboration of hundreds of filmmakers working together, and in the best versions people are contributing their creative ideas, and the people, the directors, and the producers are the ones that get to decide which of the things fit the road that you're going down."

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will be in theaters on June 2.