Sony Announces an Animated Spider-Man

You probably heard the news that Spider-Man will soon be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, after a deal was struck between Sony and Disney. But another Spider-Man is coming our way, in the form of an animated feature.

Sony Pictures announced at CinemaCon in Las Vegas that Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the multitasking people behind The LEGO Movie and a few other projects currently in production at Warner Bros., will work on a Spider-Man movie. They are set to write a treatment and produce the animated film, but are not credited as directors yet.

This new Spider-Man will co-exist with the shared Marvel/Sony character, but won't belong to the same universe. Sony is releasing the next live action Spider-Man on the 28th July, 2017 (US); the Chris Miller/Phil Lord film is currently scheduled for a 20th July, 2018 release.

Here's the press release:

SPIDER-MAN GETS ANIMATED AND DATED WITH PHIL LORD & CHRISTOPHER MILLER AND SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT

LAS VEGAS, Nev., April 22, 2015 – On July 20, 2018, Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, the directors of The Lego Movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and 21 and 22 Jump Street, are taking Spider-Man back to his graphic roots with the first-of-its-kind animated Spider-Man feature, it was announced today at CinemaCon by Tom Rothman, chairman of the Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group. The film will exist independently of the projects in the live-action Spider-Man universe, all of which are continuing.

Lord & Miller are masterminding the project, writing the treatment and producing the film.

As previously announced, Spider-Man will next appear in a live-action Marvel film from Marvel’s Cinematic Universe (MCU). Sony Pictures will thereafter release the next installment of its $4 billion Spider-Man franchise, on July 28, 2017, a live-action film being produced by Kevin Feige at Marvel and Amy Pascal, who oversaw the franchise launch for the studio 13 years ago. The animated film from Lord & Miller, dated July 20, 2018, has Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, and Pascal also serving as producers.
Spider-Man, embraced all over the world, is the most successful franchise in the history of Sony Pictures, with the five films having taken in more than $4 billion worldwide.