‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ fans spark #DontDelayNoWayHomePH online petition
Cinemas in the country are preparing to open next week to welcome audiences back into the world of movie screenings.
With blockbusters hitting theatres worldwide before the year ends, Columbia Pictures Philippines announced that some of their movies will have a delayed screening in the Philippines, including the much-anticipated Spider-Man: No Way Home.
“Good things come to those who wait, thank you for your patience,” Columbia Pictures Philippines said in a Facebook post.
The third Spidey film was set to premiere worldwide on Dec. 17, but will be delayed a few weeks in the Philippines until Jan. 8, 2022.
Other Philippine premieres included in the post are Don’t Breathe 2 on Nov. 17, Venom: Let There Be Carnage on Dec. 8, and Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City on Dec. 15.
Premieres delayed until 2022 include Ghostbusters: Afterlife on Jan. 26, Morbius on Feb. 8 and video game-to-film adapatation Uncharted on Feb. 23.
Filipino Marvel fans were not happy with the Spider-Man: No Way Home delay announcement and have started an online petition, #DontDelayNoWayHomePH, to urge Columbia Pictures Philippines, Sony Pictures, Marvel Studios and the Cinema Exhibitors Association of the Philippines to release the Marvel movie on the worldwide premiere date of Dec. 17.
“Delaying NWH means we have to stay away from the internet to avoid spoilers and wait for almost a month before we can watch the movie,” one fan tweeted. “It’s not fair at all!”
Delaying NWH means we have to stay away from the internet to avoid spoilers and wait for almost a month before we can watch the movie. It's not fair at all! Others get to celebrate early??? ? #DontDelayNoWayHomePH #SpiderManNowWayHome pic.twitter.com/mOJfdvo20A
— Pranxis ? (@pranpranns) November 4, 2021
Another fan tweeted to remind everyone that the Philippines was one of the first countries to premiere Avengers: Endgame in 2019.
#DontDelayNoWayHomePH
— 자자 #LetLeniLead (@sailorjaja) November 4, 2021
We really went from being one of the first countries to show End Game to this. ? pic.twitter.com/KRGPn7wQdN
Columbia Pictures Philippines’ Facebook post is also filled with comments from fans urging the distributor to release the movie in accordance with the global premiere date.
A Change.org petition has been circulating in social media in support of the campaign using the hashtag #DontDelayNoWayHomePH.
At the time of writing, the petition received 3,281 signatures from Marvel fans in the Philippines and abroad.
Lance Chua, who wrote the petition, said in the description that delaying Spider-Man: No Way Home’s premiere will “definitely ruin the experience for us.”
“See, with the IMPLICATIONS of this film being SO BIG (in terms of the overall effect of this film in the MCU), if you are to release this film, here in the Philippines, in January of 2022, there will ALREADY BE PLENTY OF SPOILERS, on the internet,” he wrote.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is the third installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man franchise.
Starring Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, the movie will also feature Benedict Cumberbatch reprising his role as Doctor Strange, Zendaya as MJ Jones, and Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds.
Villains from former Spider-Man franchises will be making their comeback in this movie as Peter Parker, with the help of Doctor Strange, messes with the multiverse.
Alfred Molina is back as Dr. Otto Octavious from Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man, as well as Jamie Foxx to reprise his character Electro from Andre Garfield’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2.