Have you seen Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse yet? Judging from its incredible box office take over opening weekend, it seems many of you have. Those of you who haven’t? Really, you need to get on that, because it’s freakin’ amazing. But whether you’re seeing it for the first time or the fifth, one complaint keeps popping up from moviegoers. And that’s the Across the Spider-Verse sound mix. Many moviegoers have reported the volume is too muted at the start of the film and that the opening narration from Gwen Stacy is hard to hear. While we love the film, we agree.
Well, Across the Spider-Verse writer/producer Phil Lord has a suggestion for everyone. He took to Twitter and reminded the audience that all they had to do was politely make an inquiry to a movie theater employee. Simply ask someone who works at the theater to turn up the volume to a reference 7, or even a slightly louder 7.5. Lord even made some stickers for the projectionists who make the movie look and sound its best.
As you can tell from the replies to Lord’s post, a lot of people are having issues with the Across the Spider-Verse sound mix. Given that the movie is one of the most stunning animated films ever, muddled sound shouldn’t detract from it. Regardless, we actually would like one of those little custom Miles Morales stickers. It’s a cooler Spider-Verse memento than one of those popcorn buckets you never know where to display.
Hopefully, when Beyond the Spider-Verse hit theaters next year, we won’t have the same audio issues. As of right now, Beyond the Spider-Verse is of the most anticipated cinematic “third chapters in the trilogy” since Avengers: Endgame. Dare we suggest it’s maybe even on the same level as Return of the Jedi? It would be a shame if we got anything less than a perfect theatrical experience. Miles and the Spider-Society deserve the best.