Justin K. Thompson
5 connections found
Filmography
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Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026)
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton
influenced by Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
Themes
Blame it on traditional Spider-Man cinema being outclassed by the first two animated versions (there’ll be a third next year) extending the character into a multitude of web-slingers that essentially say we can all be Spider-Man.
Thunderbolts* (2025)
Directed by Jake Schreier
influenced by Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
Themes
Ironically, something similar was pulled off with far greater artistry in Across the Spider-Verse, a movie superior to Thunderbolts in every conceivable way.
In the film-making team and in the story there’s a pleasing combination of original talent and fresh blood. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller return as writers and producers, but there’s a new directing team that includes Kemp Powers (Pixar’s Soul).
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” might not be as groundbreaking as the original (how could it be?) but its characters get deeper, and its new filmmaking team (Joaquim Dos Santos, Justin K. Thompson and Kemp Powers, the co-director of Disney/Pixar’s “Soul”; with writers Lord and Miller joined by Dave Callaham) lets ’er rip, embracing excess yet retaining control over material that seems to move at light speed.
Powers directed Soul, wrote One Night In Miami. Dos Santos has done loads of animated TV including for DC. Thompson who also production designed, and did the same for Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs and its sequel.
Directors Joaquim Dos Santos (Into the Spider-Verse), Kemp Powers (Pixar's Soul), and Justin K. Thompson (his directorial debut) play with the ease with which viewers attach labels to the characters as soon as they appear on screen, mixing characteristics normally associated with a specific archetype with the opposite.
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
Directed by Daniel Scheinert
influenced Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
It’s been a major plot point in most of the recent MCU films and even played a crucial role in this year’s best picture winner, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Directed by Bob Persichetti
influenced Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
Characters
Writers/producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s 2018 Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is one of modern superhero cinema’s genuine triumphs, this despite the fact that it helped make the multiverse—that dreaded concept which allows for endless reiterations, revisions and reboots—a mainstream staple.
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” set the bar high, and one reason I wondered if “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” could live up to it is that the original film's co-directors (Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman) have returned only as executive producers, replaced by three other directors (Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson).
This is bad news for Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), the Brooklyn 15-year-old who's gone the radioactive spider bite route to become his version of Spider-Man (as related in the previous film, 2018's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse).