It turns out those who are going to see Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse in its second weekend may have a better experience with one issue in particular: the sound.
While the sequel was largely lauded by fans and critics alike (which translated into some stunning box office results), many viewers did complain about the sound mixing and having trouble hearing the dialogue over the music, particularly in Gwen Stacy's opening sequence. The issue was so widespread that Across the Spider-Verse writer/producer Phil Lord made stickers for projectionists who played the movie at full volume:
PROJECTIONISTS!!! I’m sending you all a present pic.twitter.com/AdGHnxiScs
— Phil Lord (@philiplord) June 1, 2023
Elaborating further, he wrote, "The movie mix is really dynamic and comfortable at full volume. In a full house it might even be better at 7.5!"
Well, it appears as though distributor Sony Pictures has heard the complaints loud and clear (no pun intended). According to Variety, "all the prints" sent to theaters have been updated to reflect the correct volume, which should fix those audio issues. A source told IGN that only a handful of theaters were affected originally, however, and it's not uncommon to swap out prints when necessary.
Still, that handful of theaters was enough to gain quite a bit of traction on social media: "Everyone is complaining about the poor dialogue audio in Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse!," wrote one Twitter user. "It was a problem for me watching it in IMAX, too."
Hey, @SonyPictures: everyone is complaining about the poor dialogue audio in "Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse"! It was a problem for me watching it in IMAX, too. (Gonna get a caption device for my 2nd viewing!)
Here's comments from reddit about it. #NoSound #Sony #SpiderMan pic.twitter.com/kesOxZAccl— Zardoz (@mr3film) June 2, 2023
Those issues didn't stop Across the Spider-Verse from being quickly embraced by fans, though. In our 8/10 review, Tom Jorgenson wrote that it "surges with visual inventiveness and vibrance in an undeniably strong evolution of the style established in Into the Spider-Verse."
For more, check out various animators and artists breaking down how the various stunning scenes were done.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.