The Spider-Man franchise is one of the most lucrative film franchises in the world with a collective gross of close to $10 billion. The franchise includes numerous live-action feature films as well as an animated film released in 2018. Apart from the major films, the Spider-Man franchise has also had a few spinoffs, including Venom and its sequel.

During last year’s CinemaCon event at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Sony Pictures announced a Spider-Man spinoff titled El Muerto with popular Puerto Rican rapper, singer, and upcoming actor Bad Bunny billed to star as the titular character. However, there has been little to no information about the movie since then.

Now, in a recent and disappointing update, the spinoff film’s status is up in the air. In a recent profile feature about the artist, TIME magazine asked him about the film but he feigned confusion before stating that no filming has taken place for a film that is slated for release in less than a year. According to the rapper’s publicist, the project is "at a standstill," although he later stated that it is still in development.

For those who don’t know, El Muerto is a Marvel Comics character that made his first appearance in the 2006 issue Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man comic #6. According to Marvel, the character is a wrestler who is in possession of the mystical Mask of El Muerto, an object that grants him superhuman strength and endurance.

El Muerto, whose real name is Juan Carlos Estrada Sanchez, comes from a family of wrestlers with each generation serving as custodian of the mystical mask, which was bestowed upon a man named Estrada by El Dorado, the wrestling god. However, each mask bearer must fight the god to prove they are worthy of the mask. El Muerto fails to do this, which results in his father’s death. El Dorado grants El Muerto the mask but on the condition that he unmasks a famous masked champion.

Following a failed attempt to unmask Spider-Man, El Dorado arrives to take El Muerto’s life. However, El Muerto teams up with his former rival and, together, they defeat the wrestling god.

Jonás Cuarón, who directed the 2013 film Gravity starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, was billed to direct based on a script by the Mexican writer Garreth Dunnet-Alcocer.

El Muerto is slated to arrive in theaters on January 12, 2024. Since it hasn’t even started filming, it is safe to assume it will no longer be released on that day. Given the radio silence on the project, fans who have been looking forward to the film will probably be glad just to get an update about the film regardless of its release date.