After 2021’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming”, “Spider-Man: Far From Home”, and most recently “Spider-Man: No Way Home”, it would be time to at least get an update for “Spider-Man 4”. “. . We know the sequel has to come and that Tom Holland will definitely be back and, as producer Amy Pascal confirmed a few days ago, it should stay that way. However, it’s hard to say when we can expect a theatrical release.
Sony and Marvel have not yet announced a concrete release plan for “Spider-Man 4”. As of late 2022, the sequel was still said to be “on its way,” meaning it should be processed with high priority and launched soon. Insider circles even said at the time that the script was already in the works and that shooting was expected to start in 2023 – but it doesn’t look like that at the moment. The reason: the strikes in Hollywood and Tom Holland himself.
Writers strike paralyzes Hollywood
American screenwriters are currently fighting for better working conditions, rules for dealing with artificial intelligence and fairer wages and have therefore put their projects on hold. This affects many productions in the film and series business, because without scripts nothing works. And of course big blockbusters like “Spider-Man 4” are not spared.
At the premiere of the animated adventure “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse”, which took place a few days ago, Amy Pascal also stated: that work on a new “Spider-Man” can only continue after the strikes. However, it is difficult to predict when the union action will end. As you know, the last major strike in 2007 lasted more than three months, the current one only started just over a month ago.
Tom Holland needs a break
But it’s not just the Hollywood strike that means “Spider-Man 4” will definitively not hit theaters in 2024. Even Tom Holland, who will slip back into the spider costume for the sequel, currently has completely different plans than shooting another blockbuster. After working on The Crowded Room, a miniseries for Apple TV+ (which launched a few days ago), he says he’s in an interview with with the forces almost at their end: “I’m taking a year off now. It’s a result of how hard it was to make this series.”
In The Crowded Room, Holland not only stars in the series alongside Amanda Seyfried and Emmy Rossum, but also produces the series. Those two tasks, combined with the show’s emotionally draining subject matter, were pretty tough, the actor said. In this article you can read how much influence his role had on him:
So the fact is that the Netherlands will not wear the spider costume in 2023, nor in the first half of 2024 – if there is a scenario at all. Assuming that shooting could begin in late 2024, it would be at least another year before we see “Spider-Man 4” on screen at the earliest in late 2025, more likely not until 2026. But these are just guesses and estimates. Spider adventures don’t have to be completely dispensed with, though. But read for yourself: