Next week, Sony Pictures will unveil its new sci-fi thrillerLife, which features an all-star cast includingRyan Reynolds(who reunites withDeadpoolwritersRhett ReeseandPaul Wernickon this film),Jake GyllenhaalandRebecca Ferguson. Last week, the studio released a new TV trailer, which featured one shot in particular that looked quite familiar to an eagle-eyed fan. As it turns out, this brief shot was seemingly recycled footage from Sony’s 2007 superhero sequelSpider-Man 3! Say what?
AReddituser named “toomuchsoull” spotted this shot, which comes at the 26-second mark of the Sony Pictures Canada TV spot below. The shot in question features a number of New Yorkers, who we can see from the shot before are assembled in Times Square, looking up in terror, presumably at something falling from the sky, likely caused by thisterrifying alien. This Reddit user discovered that practically the exact same shot was used at the 34 minutes and 45 second mark ofSpider-Man 3, during a scene whereTobey Maguire’s Spider-Man savesBryce Dallas Howard’s Gwen Stacy from a collapsing building.
Seeing as they’re both Sony Pictures movies, it’s not terribly surprising that they would simply find a shot from their archives to use for thissci-fi thriller, instead of assembling a slew of extras for what essentially amounts to a throwaway shot, but it’s still unusual. As you’re able to see in the photos below, theLifeshot isn’t an exact match, with theLifeframe darkened considerably, and there are a few characters that seem to be digitally removed from the frame, but the ones that do remain, are clearly the same people wearing the same costumes from theSpider-Man 3shoot. It’s possible that the shot used inLifeis one of the many discarded takes thatSam Raimididn’t use for that particular moment.
Another Redditor has even come up with a crazy theory that could even connect thealien creatureinLifetoSpider-Man 3. This person claims thatLifecould actually be a backdoor origin story for how the alien symbiote Venom came to Earth in the first place. Venom is actually featured inSpider-Man 3, consuming Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) after taking over Peter Parker as his host. While that logic may be far-fetched, to say the least, it wouldn’t be the first time that we’ve heard of a seemingly-unrelated movie being connected to a beloved franchise.
Quick SPOILER alert! Many fans were quite shocked when it was revealed at the end ofSplitthat the movie is actually set in the world ofUnbreakable, with a brief cameo fromBruce Willisas David Dunn at the end of the film, setting up another movie that combines characters fromSplitandUnbreakable. Paramount has also surprised fans in the past by revealing that a small-budget indie previously known asThe Cellarwould be re-titled10 Cloverfield Lane, which connects to theCloverfielduniverse, as does the upcomingGod Particle. Just last fall, Lionsgate unveiled that a horror-thriller entitledThe Woodswas actually entitledBlair Witch. Even with all of these recent examples, it seems unlikely that the alien featured in theLife moviehas any connection to the newSpider-Manfranchise, which kicks off withSpider-Man: Homecomingon July 7. Take a look at the new TV spot forLife, along with these uncannily similar photos from the video, and from 2007’sSpider-Man 3.
