Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse co-writer Chris Miller has spoken out after unfinished trailer footage leaked online.
Miller, 49, took to X on Wednesday to address the leak of a four-minute trailer that had originally been shown exclusively at CinemaCon earlier this year. The footage, which spread rapidly across social media before takedown notices scrubbed many copies, showed Miles Morales meeting his Earth-42 counterpart Miles G. Morales, Gwen Stacy reuniting with Hobie Brown in his dimension, and Peter B. Parker finally donning his full Spider-Man suit.
“Not a fan of leaks of unfinished, not fully rendered footage,” Miller wrote on X. The post drew thousands of responses from fans divided over whether the leak warranted outrage or excitement after years of waiting.
The leaked trailer is believed to have originated from the same CinemaCon presentation where Sony first confirmed the film’s release date. That footage, described by attendees at the time, remained unseen by the general public until this week. Multiple mirrors of the trailer persisted on platforms including Reddit and TikTok after the original X upload was removed.
One fan pushed back against Miller’s concern, writing on X: “How is a trailer unfinished footage and why would leaking it early have any impact on production? Is it an unfinished trailer? Like I really don’t see the problem here.”
Another user referenced the film’s troubled production history, adding: “Movie was supposed to come out in 2023 by the way, lmao they just gonna have to take this on the chin.”
A third fan joked about the franchise’s multiverse theme, posting: “Unfinished footage or not… the multiverse still finds a way to leak.”
Others expressed frustration at what they saw as studio deflection. “Who really cares tho at least we got to see something!!!!” One wrote. “Jesus I think people would rather see it dead in the dirt then actually progressing.”
Some fans predicted consequences. “And the will now delay the movie for another year to ‘fix’ it,” one user claimed.
Another fan defended the studio’s position, writing: “Don’t know why people jump to conclusions thinking it was the full thing. Even I knew it wasn’t completed like it’s coming out next year.”
The leak marks the latest setback for a film already defined by delays. Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse was originally scheduled for March 29, 2024, just nine months after Across the Spider-Verse hit theaters. The 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes forced an indefinite postponement, and Sony did not set a new date until CinemaCon in March 2025.
The studio has since moved the release twice more. The film was initially set for June 4, 2027, then pushed to June 25, 2027, before landing on its current date of June 18, 2027. Sony has cited the need to capture school-aged audiences during summer break as the reason for the calendar shuffling.
In the viral moment that established the cliffhanger awaiting resolution, 2023’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ended with Miles Morales stranded on Earth-42, trapped in a dimension where his alternate self had become the Prowler. The film left Gwen Stacy leading a team of spider-allies on a rescue mission while Miles faced betrayal by the Spider Society led by Miguel O’Hara. That ending generated massive online discussion and set enormous expectations for the trilogy’s conclusion.
The official synopsis for Beyond the Spider-Verse states that Miles races across time and space to escape his alternate self, evade rogue Spider-People, and save his endangered family before the multiversal threat of The Spot peaks. Directors Bob Persichetti and Justin K. Thompson have promised what they describe as “a satisfying ending” that brings the story full circle.
The voice cast includes returning stars Shameik Moore, 30, as Miles Morales, Hailee Steinfeld, 28, as Gwen Stacy, Brian Tyree Henry as Jefferson Davis, Luna Lauren Vélez as Rio Morales, Oscar Isaac as Miguel O’Hara, Daniel Kaluuya as Hobie Brown, Jason Schwartzman as The Spot, and Karan Soni as Pavitr Prabhakar. Nicolas Cage is also expected to return as Spider-Noir.
The franchise has been both a critical and commercial phenomenon. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2019 and grossed $384 million worldwide. Its 2023 sequel earned $690 million globally and scored an Oscar nomination in the same category.
Miller and co-writer Phil Lord have been vocal about their perfectionist approach to the franchise’s groundbreaking animation, which blends multiple art styles and visual techniques. At CinemaCon, Lord told attendees that the team took extra time “to get it just right” and teased that the finale would be “breaking the boundaries with animation again.”
The leak follows similar unauthorized releases for other major Sony properties. Last month, footage from The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the live-action sequel starring Tom Holland, also appeared on X before being removed.
Holland, 30, has not been confirmed to appear in Beyond the Spider-Verse, though he has spoken extensively about his vision for passing the live-action Spider-Man mantle. On the Happy Sad Confused podcast, he said: “There’s a whole plan that we have been working on for, I would say, since we finished Spider-Man: No Way Home. It’s laid out. It’s gonna change for sure, but I have a really clear vision to the passing on of the baton, and I think it’s really exciting.”
He continued: “I know I get really excited when we have these meetings and chat about it. But that is the thing I want to do most in this character, for sure.”
Sony Pictures Animation lists the film’s official release as June 18, 2027, in theaters and IMAX.