The reviews are stellar, the box office is soaring, yet one complaint has begun popping up in regards to “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” and it ties into the film’s sound mix.
Numerous social media posts on Twitter and online threads on both Reddit and ResetEra have seen reactions coming in from people who say the sound mix feels off to them, with the music drowning out some of the dialogue.
This was especially noted in the film’s opening act, in which a voiceover from Gwen Stacy is pummelled by rhythmic drumming so loud it’s hard to make out what she’s saying. The issue appears to be happening regardless of what format people see it in.
This has reportedly already led to comments from people who say they are looking forward to the home release so that they can rewatch the scene with subtitles. Reaction otherwise to the film seems to be unanimously positive.
One Redditor suggests that the filmmakers opted not to compress their sound mix very much as they preferred the wider dynamic range. However other films do compress theirs and so some cinemas could be running the film at “normal” levels which is leading to the center channel being low enough the dialogue is drowned out.
The issue is happening enough that “Across the Spider-Verse” writer and producer Phil Lord has weighed in on Twitter saying the issue is down to cinemas: “likely not playing at spec (7)… but houses do vary. And often in full houses, sound plays shockingly different than at the QC. We did favor music to get your heart racing.”
Lord also revealed stickers were made for projectionists that politely request theatre staff play the movie at “7”.
This is hardly the first time a film or TV series has been hit with criticism over hard-to-hear dialogue, look at the works of Christopher Nolan in recent years. Complaints about mixing with drowned out dialogue, especially on certain TV shows, has become almost as common as those about film and series being underlit and ‘too dark’ to see anything clearly.
