Fans planning to stream Nicolas Cage’s Spider-Noir will have to wait a bit longer to see the live-action Marvel series after it is released; that is, unless they also have cable, satellite or subscribe to watch live TV online.
Cage stars as New York City private investigator Ben Reilly/The Spider in Spider Noir, which marks his reunion with filmmakers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller after he voiced Spider-Man Noir in the duo’s 2018 Best Animated Feature Oscar winner Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Cage’s Reilly in Spider-Noir is different from his character from Into the Spider-Verse. In the series, Reilly, a down-on-his-luck private gumshoe in the 1930s, has no choice but to return to his superhero identity, The Spider, after suffering a deep personal loss.
While Prime Video will be the streaming home of Spider-Noir, Amazon announced recently that the series will debut first on Monday on another one of its TV assets, MGM+ linear on broadcast in the U.S. Formerly Epix, MGM+ linear broadcasts live programming on cable and satellite systems, whereas streaming apps make shows and movies available on demand.
There is one option to watch the critically acclaimed series online, however, before it arrives on Prime Video. MGM+ linear is offered on such live TV subscription streamers as YouTube TV, Fubo TV, Philo, Sling and DIRECTV.
Viewers will be able to watch all eight episodes of Spider-Noir, back-to-back, on MGM+ linear beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. PT, on Monday, according to Games Radar. While Spider-Noir will be available on MGM+ linear, it will not be available on the MGM+ streaming app, which is offered as a subscription add-on on Prime Video. Instead, Prime Video has the exclusive global streaming rights to the series.
While consumers who subscribe to MGM+ linear will get a two-day head start on Monday to watch Spider-Noir, Prime Video subscribers won’t get all eight episodes of the series until they drop on the platform on Wednesday at 3 a.m. ET/12 a.m. PT.
‘Spider-Noir’ Will Be Available In Two Different Viewing Formats
In addition to the opportunity to binge all eight episodes of Spider-Noir — some Prime Video series like the recently-wrapped The Boys generally got one new episode weekly — subscribers to the platform will get an opportunity to watch Nicolas Cage’s TV series debut in both “Authentic Black and White” and “True-Hue Full Color.”
To get a sense of what each format looks like, the “True-Hue Full Color” version of the Spider-Noir trailer is embedded above, while the trailer for the “Authentic Black and White” version of the series is embedded below.
The black and white presentation of Spider-Noir is, of course, an homage to the film noir genre during the 1940s and 1950s, which produced such monochrome classics as legendary actor Humphrey Bogart’s Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon, as well as filmmaking icon Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard.
Nicolas Cage recently told Esquire that he hopes the availability of Spider-Noir in black and white will inspire younger viewers to examine the visually striking genre.
“The truth is, they both work and they’re beautiful for different reasons,” Cage told Esquire. “The color is super saturated and gorgeous. I think teenage viewers will appreciate the color, but I also want them to have the option. If they want to experience the concept in black and white, maybe that would instill some interest in them to look at earlier movies and enjoy that as an art form as well.”
Developed by Oren Uziel and also starring Lamorne Morris, Li Jun Li, Jack Huston, Karen Rodriguez, Abraham Popoola and Brendan Gleeson, Spider-Noir premieres on MGM+ linear in the U.S. on Monday and Prime Video globally on Wednesday.
