Sony’s Rule-Breaking Spider-Verse Animation Method — And Why Disney Can’t Replicate It

If you have ever wondered why Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse looks so outrageously good, it is not just because it is pretty. The movie messes with how animation is usually done, and it does it on purpose. The end result: a comic-book come to life that actually feels like it was drawn by hand, not churned out by a render farm.

How Spider-Verse bent time (well, frame time)

Co-director Bob Persichetti broke it down in an interview with SlashFilm: instead of the standard CG approach where you get a brand-new image every single frame at 24 frames per second, they went back to a hand-drawn mindset and animated on twos — basically using 12 drawings per second and holding each for two frames. That sounds simple, but it is a big shift. They also had to build new tech to keep hair, cloth, and other simulations from looking broken when you are not updating the image every frame.

"There are 24 frames a second in film, and in most CGI there is a new image for every frame. In traditional hand-drawn, you could get away with 12 drawings because your eye will accept a drawing held for two frames. We stripped it down and animated on twos, then the team wrote new algorithms to make up for the lost simulations — things like hair and cloth."

On top of that, the filmmakers used tiny variations between frames to preserve that drawn-by-hand energy instead of smoothing everything into oblivion. The mix of old-school craft and custom tech is the secret sauce. This is why Spider-Verse pops in a way most CG features do not.

It is not just the look — Miles carries the movie

The visuals get the attention, but the reason Spider-Verse sticks is the script. Miles Morales is juggling a lot: pressure from his parents, fear of screwing up, and the weight of a legacy he did not ask for. The movie turns those very relatable anxieties into a clean, heartfelt arc about figuring out what being Spider-Man actually means — to him. It is funny and weird and big-hearted, but there is always a purpose underneath the jokes.

Meanwhile at Disney: playing the hits

Zoom out to the broader animation landscape and the strategy from the biggest studio in town looks very different. Disney has been doubling down on legacy brands and reimagining them for new audiences. Case in point: another Lion King project has been in the pipeline. The live-action remakes are the main event lately too — Snow White with Rachel Zegler and The Little Mermaid are front and center because they are reliable earners.

The argument for this approach is straightforward: familiar IP tends to make money. The source here even cites Lilo & Stitch as an example, claiming $807 million in the first month and $1.03 billion total (via Box Office Mojo). Those figures are... surprising, to put it mildly, but the larger point stands: when the math works, studios keep feeding the machine.

Spider-Verse, for what it is worth, cost an estimated $90 million to make and pulled in about $373 million worldwide (via The Numbers). A clear hit, but also a reminder that formal experimentation does not automatically equal a billion-dollar windfall — which is probably why you will not see Disney take this exact stylistic swing in a tentpole any time soon, no matter how gorgeous it looks.

Quick hit details

• Movie: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
• Directors: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman
• Main voice cast: Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali
• IMDb rating: 8.4/10
• Rotten Tomatoes: 97% critics, 93% audience
• Budget and box office: about $90 million to make; roughly $373 million worldwide (via The Numbers)
• Streaming in the US: currently on Fubo TV

Bottom line: Spider-Verse did not just change the look of mainstream animation — it proved that audiences will show up for a bold visual idea when it is tethered to a character story that actually lands. More of this, please.