The highly-acclaimed global hit animated film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has been pulled from the release schedule in UAE, Saudi Arabia and across the Middle East, and will no longer have a theatrical run in the region.
The film, a sequel to the 2018 film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse which introduced Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) as a new Spider-Man who teams up with alternate universe versions of the character, was scheduled to debut on June 22 across the territory ahead of the the upcoming Eid Al Adha holiday.
I have confirmed with sources that the film did not pass censorship requirements in the UAE and will not see release across the region.
Internationally, Across The Spider-Verse, directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson from a script by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Dave Callaham for Sony, is one of the most well-received superhero films in history, sitting currently at a 9.1 rating on IMDb with over 110,000 votes, and a 96% ‘Certified Fresh’ score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The film has thus far earned $320 million at the international box office according to Box Office Mojo.
The previous film had a successful run in regional theaters from 2018 to early 2019. The planned sequel, set for 2024, is still scheduled for a regional theatrical debut.
The official news comes from days of speculation on Reddit and social media, in which numerous parties who had contacted local exhibitors, namely Vox Cinemas, the leading theatrical firm in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and received word that the film was not releasing.
Watch the trailer for the film below:
Beyond Spider-Man: Release Guidelines in the UAE, Saudi Arabia
While it was widely reported in 2021 that censorship had ended in the UAE, with a quote from a government agency saying “the movies will be screened in cinemas according to their international version,” as reported by the AP, this is not strictly the case.
There are still guidelines that international and local content must adhere to according to local customs and values, particularly pertaining to films geared towards children, which animated films are nearly always classified as.
Last summer, Disney and Pixar’s Lightyear was banned after public outcry over some of its content which did not reflect local values.
“The Media Regulatory Office announced that the animated film Lightyear, which is scheduled for release on 16th June, is not licensed for public screening in all cinemas in the UAE, due to its violation of the country’s media content standards,” it was announced on Twitter just over a year ago.
The film was also pulled from Disney+, the company’s streaming service, as was all content that did not align with local content regulatory standards.
Lightyear underperformed at the box office, with a number of the creatives and executives behind the film fired recently from the company.
The policy was outlined to me last year. Read more here.
“Content offerings differ across our many Disney+ markets, based upon a number of factors. Content available should align with local regulatory requirements,” Disney told me in a statement.
While Spider-Man is part of the Marvel pantheon owned by Disney, the character was licensed to Sony in the late 1990s and thus all Spider-Verse content is through Sony first, though Marvel Studiosand Sony do have a deal in place for the Marvel Cinematic Universe that allows them to work together on certain projects. Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse has no Disney or Marvel Studios input.
There is no word on when the next MCU Spider-Man film will be released, but I did speak with Tom Holland about it, who explained why he does not want to play the character for decades to come.
“What I basically was trying to say is that if I am 30, still playing Spider-Man and I haven’t passed on the baton to a Miles Morales or a Spider-Woman or something more diverse, then I will have done something wrong in the sense of the sort of duties I have to the character,” he told me.
“Not the like, if I’m playing Spider-Man in my 30s I’m like some washed up has-been. That’s not what I was saying.”