Despite its ongoing legacy, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse composer Daniel Pemberton had to try and convince people of the film's potential. The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller helped develop the animated Spider-Man film with directors Rodney Rothman, who co-wrote the script with Lord, Peter Ramsey and Bob Perischetti. Lord and Miller would produce the film with franchise vets Avi Arad and Amy Pascal as well as Christina Steinberg.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse introduced Miles Morales to the big screen as he is bitten by a radioactive spider and develops spider-like abilities, putting him on the path to become the next Spider-Man after Peter Parker is killed by the Kingpin. When the towering supervillain begins opening the door to the multiverse in the hopes of being reunited with his late wife and son, Miles is introduced to a number of other Spider-People and must learn from them and work with them to stop Kingpin from destroying his universe. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse scored critical acclaim upon its release and became the first non-Disney/Pixar film in 12 years to bring home both the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film, though this success wasn't evident to some.
While speaking exclusively with Screen Rant to discuss his work on The Afterparty and Slow Horses' first seasons, Daniel Pemberton reflected on his time with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The composer recalls having to try and convince people the film was good as his friends and family were largely disinterested in the movie ahead of its release. See what Pemberton explained below:
"Well, it's kind of weird. When Spider-Verse came out, people didn't care that much for it. Everyone now loves Spider-Verse, but when Spider-Verse came out, I went to the cinema the first week it came out in the UK. There weren't a lot of people there that night and I remember telling people, 'I've just done this movie is one of the most amazing movies I'll probably ever do in my life.' 'Oh, what is it?' 'It's Spider-Man' and they're like, 'Oh, Spider-Man? They're making another Spider-Man movie? I don't care about Spider-Man.'
Then you go, 'No, no, it's an animated Spider-Man movie,' and then they'd be like, 'It's a cartoon.' You can see them just going, 'I am so not going to watch this thing.' These are friends of mine, okay? And then a year later, 'Oh, my god, I just watched Spider-Verse. It's one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.' I'm like, 'Yeah, I told you that ages ago.' I've had that multiple times. What's interesting about Spider-Verse, I think, is when it came out, it did okay, but for a film that I think is one of the most groundbreaking, the highest-rated superhero movie of all time, people didn't get it when it first came out.
They've got it now and that's really fun to watch people discover it, because I think that makes everyone feel like it's their movie. With things like The Avengers and these other things, there is a massive corporate machine behind it and it's kind of just the machine. But I think the thing about the Spider-Verse is I think so many people feel it's like theirs and they discovered it, so I'm very excited to see how they respond to the sequel."
Though it may be hard to believe in the wake of its success, it's understandable Pemberton had to work hard to convince people of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse's potential. Many audiences were still reeling from the sudden end to Andrew Garfield's Amazing Spider-Man franchise and Tom Holland's new tenure as the webslinger in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which had kicked off just two years prior with Captain America: Civil War. Additionally, with Disney and Pixar largely dominating the animated genre at the time and delivering titles skewed towards younger audiences, many took the animated format of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse as a sign that it wasn't made with older viewers in mind.
While Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse proved to be a hit at the box office domestically with a $190 million haul and in China with a $62 million haul, it did struggle to take off in a variety of other markets, including Pemberton's home of the United Kingdom, where it only brought in $13 million, a lackluster showing when put up against Spider-Man: Homecoming's $39 million UK haul the year prior. In spite of this, critics and audiences did ultimately connect with the animated Spider-Man movie, including Pemberton's energetic score, and helped spawn development on two sequels, beginning with next year's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. While audiences await the sequel's arrival, they can revisit Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse streaming on Fubo now.
