Sony Pictures is bringing your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man to the big screen… again. But this time, not in the way you’d expect.

From Sony Pictures Animation and Lego Movie duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse takes the popular Marvel hero in a brand new direction to create a fully-animated experience unlike any other. We now have our first glimpse at this ambitious project with a teaser trailer fresh from Comic-Con Experience CCXP17 in São Paulo, Brazil.

It was promised by Miller that the visuals of this new Spider-Man movie were “gonna be unlike anything on screen before”, and he’s absolutely right on that. What we see in this trailer is far different than what Sony Animation (or any mainstream animation studio) has done before. With comic-like animation, colours, effects, and cinematography are strikingly stylish, the film utilizes the medium in ways that would be difficult to achieve in live-action.

Another unique aspect of this movie is that this Spider-Man is not the usual Peter Parker. Instead, the main star will be Parker’s successor Miles Morales (voiced by The Get Down‘s Shameik Moore). First introduced in August 2011 in Ultimate Comics Fallout Vol 1 #4, Morales became the new Spider-Man after Parker was killed by the Green Goblin.

While Lord and Miller are only serving as producers and writers, the film is directed by two DreamWorks veterans, which includes Bob Persichetti (head of story on Puss in Boots) and Peter Ramsey (director of Rise of the Guardians). Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch is also credited as a story contributor, so the movie seems to be in good hands with a trustworthy crew.

It’s really commendable of Sony Pictures Animation to try something new with this movie. One where it pushes beyond what computer-animated movies is usually seen as both visually and storytelling-wise, and with a more serious tone than the typical family-friendly animated movie. If Into the Spider-Verse succeeds greatly, then I reckon this could be an inspirational game changer, not just for animated features but for superhero movies too.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse will be released theatrically in North America by Columbia Pictures on December 14, 2018.

Are you excited to enter the animated Spider-Verse?

Edited by: Hannah Wilkes