‘Across the Spider-Verse’ screenplay poised to make Oscars history

Animated movies often have some of the most imaginative, creative scripts out there. But the genre isn’t rewarded all that much in either writing category. At this time of writing, only 10 animated features have reaped Oscar bids for their screenplays.

A lucky seven of these contended over in Best Original Screenplay: “Toy Story” in 1996 (Andrew Stanton, Joss Whedon, Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow, John Lasseter, Pete Docter, and Joe Ranft), “Finding Nemo” in 2004 (Stanton, Bob Peterson, and David Reynolds), “The Incredibles” in 2005 (Brad Bird), “Ratatouille” in 2008 (Bird, Jan Pinkava, and Jim Capobianco), “WALL-E” in 2009 (Stanton, Docter, and Jim Reardon), “Up” in 2010 (Peterson, Docter, and Tom McCarthy), and “Inside Out” in 2016 (Docter, Meg Le Fauve, Josh Cooley, and Ronnie del Carmen). And just two have reaped bids for Best Adapted Screenplay: “Shrek” in 2002 (Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, and Roger S. H. Schulman) and “Toy Story 3” in 2011 (Stanton, Lassester, Michael Arndt, and Lee Unkrich).

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A couple of key facts to note: only Pixar films have been nominated for Original Screenplay and only one non-Pixar pic has contended in Adapted Screenplay; and no animated movie has ever won for writing. However, all that could change this year with Sony’s smash hit sequel “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”

“Across the Spider-Verse” continues Miles Morales’ story from the first movie, “Into the Spider-Verse.” That film not only won Best Animated Feature (its only Oscar bid) in 2019 (for Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord, and Christopher Miller) but it changed the animation industry. DreamWorks upped their game up made “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” which took major inspiration from “Into the Spider-Verse.” Even Disney has been affected by the film, with their latest flick, “Wish,” also influenced by the style of the Spidey movie.

“Across the Spider-Verse,” which follows Miles as he is launched into the Multiverse and faces a new threat, Spot, continues to push the boundaries of animation. It is another daring, endlessly creative outing. The sequel was even bolder and more ambitious with its work and, as such, should be even more rewarded than its predecessor.

We predict that it will win Best Animated Feature over the likes of fellow predicted nominees “The Boy and the Heron,” “Elemental,” “Wish,” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.” However, could it go one better and land an Adapted Screenplay nomination?

The script was written by Lord, Miller, and Dave Callaham. Callaham has never been nominated for an Oscar but Lord and Miller won Best Animated Feature in 2019 for “Into the Spider-Verse” before adding another bid for the same category in 2022 for “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” (shared with Mike Rianda and Kurt Albrecht).

The film earned rave reviews, meriting a jaw-dropping score of 96% at Rotten Tomatoes, with the site’s critical consensus reading: “Just as visually dazzling and action-packed as its predecessor, ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ thrills from start to cliffhanger conclusion.”  It grossed just under $700 million worldwide (the original came in at 97% on RT and made just shy of $400 million.) Among those critics making special note of the script:

David Crow (Den of Geek) explained: “There is plenty more to the plot, but in all honesty one of the great strengths of ‘Across the Spider-Verse’ is that despite the gargantuan scope of the screenplay penned by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Dave Callaham (with Lord and Miller remaining as producers), the plot is far less important to the emotional authenticity of the piece and its groundbreaking innovations in American animation.”

Brian Tallerico (Roger Ebert) observed: “In an era when superhero movies have taken over the culture, writers Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, & David Callahan use animation’s freedom to unpack the structure of a world they know and love. It’s a script that earns every one of its 140 minutes, almost overwhelming in its abundance of ideas… Everyone was clearly inspired by the creative potential of this script.”

Jake Coyle (Associated Press) opined: “Despite all that’s going on, ‘Across the Spider-Verse’ is remarkably grounded as a coming-of-age tale. The masterful flair of writers-producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who penned the script with David Callaham, lies in how they detonate convention and then assemble the leftover, splintered shards to build something deceptively sweet and simple.”

They would compete in Adapted Screenplay for “Across the Spider-Verse” because of two factors. Firstly, this movie is adapted from Marvel comics characters and storylines. Secondly, per the academy’s rules in this category, sequels count as adaptations with the source material being the film series’ first films. That’s why “Toy Story 3” was nominated for Adapted and not Original.

Our current predicted nominees for Adapted Screenplay: “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Oppenheimer,” “Poor Things,” “American Fiction,” and “The Zone of Interest.” The first three movies are all heavy hitters who will be competing in multiple Oscar nominations including Best Picture, so they feel like locks. “American Fiction” and “The Zone of Interest,” however, feel a little more at risk of dropping out with several contenders including “All of Us Strangers,” “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” “The Color Purple,” and “Across the Spider-Verse” all on the precipice of taking their place.

“Across the Spider-Verse” is a funny, wild, out-there ride and such movies often find joy in writing categories. Here are several such nominations in Adapted Screenplay: “Glass Onion” in 2023, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” in 2021, “Jojo Rabbit” (which won) in 2020, “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” in 2019, and “The Disaster Artist” in 2018. For Original Screenplay: “Everything Everywhere Always at Once” (which won) in 2023, “Don’t Look Up” in 2022, “Knives Out” in 2020, “Get Out” (which won) in 2018, and “Inside Out” in 2016.

Plus, comic book movies have started to do well in writing categories as academy voters slowly start to accept this genre. “Logan” was nominated in 2018 and “Joker” reaped a bid in 2019. “Across the Spider-Verse” could continue the trend of voters embracing this genre a little more. “Across the Spider-Verse” would do that by showing how good superhero movies can be: creative, bold, stylistic, singular, ambitious, and heartfelt. Don’t count out Spidey just yet.

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