Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse unsustainable working conditions caused over 100 animators to quit

Unfortunately, crunch culture is a more common practice than it ought to be in the video game industry, and it seems that the movie industry is also no exception.

Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is not only proving to be a box office smash but a critical success too. At the time of writing, this animated movie has garnered over $560 million at the worldwide box office since its launch in cinemas on 1 June 2023.

Take a look at Across The Spider-Verse in action below.

What’s more, on Rotten Tomatoes, it has scored an almighty 96% from critics and 95% from its audience, cementing its place as one of the best Marvel movies of all time. However, as reported by our friends at UNILAD (via Vulture), over 100 artists reportedly quit production due to unsustainable crunch hours.

In case you didn't know, the term crunch is used when a company imposes an unhealthy requirement to work unreasonable hours, often to ensure deadlines are met by those imposed at a corporate level. It’s a trend that can be equally as taxing physically as it is mentally.

It’s reported that some employees were forced to work 11-hour days, seven days a week for over a year to make up for time delayed during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, while the pandemic was the 'official reason' for the imposed crunch hours, those that spoke anonymously to Vulture claimed that the crunch hours were actually due to ‘several months’ being lost waiting for Across the Spider-Verse co-creator Phil Lord to tinker with the movie. This reportedly resulted in artists having to continually revise their work for the final rendering stage of production.

Here at GAMINGbible, we love Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, as reflected in our review. That being said, it does leave a sour taste knowing that so much stress was imposed upon the talent that brought this amazing movie to life.