One of the most famous acquisitions in the film industry of the past decade was the Disney acquisition of Spiderman. With two series spanning five films over the course of twelve years, Sony ceded the web slinger back to Marvel in 2015, and since then, all speculation was about how this new Spiderman will fit into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now we know for sure that Tom Holland will be debuting as the youngest Peter Parker we’ve had yet.
A new Venom film has been announced from Sony. For clarification, while Sony is partially ceding the web slinger to Marvel studios, they still have contractually granted rights to produce their own films based off the Spiderman universe, of which Venom is a part. Venom was last seen in 2007’s Spiderman 3, the last of the Sam Raimi trilogy. Fans and critics alike did not respond well to Venom and his brief appearance in the film. Venom is essentially an alien parasite that takes the form of a black Spider Man when it is possessing humans. With such an interesting concept, it is no wonder that a new film is moving forward.
A Venom film was planned back in the days when The Amazing Spiderman 2 was intended to be the launching pad for a whole new franchise based upon the Spiderman universe. Yet when those plans, which included a Sinister Six film, were cancelled with the reboot of Spiderman, no one thought another Sony only produced Spiderman film would happen. Yet on March 4, Sony announced that a new Venom film is moving forward. Not set in the MCU, this movie is to stand on its own from the new Spiderman continuity that will be established with Tom Holland.
This new Venom is set to be written by Edge of Tomorrow writer Dante Harper. The addition of talent is never a mistake, and Harper undoubtedly will serve the project well.
Nothing else is known about the film at the moment. Way back in its development, Gary Ross was attached to direct. Ross directed The Hunger Games in 2012, and now has the upcoming Free State of Jones slated to release this May. So, it is safe to assume Ross is off the film. Josh Trank was also slated to direct at one time. Trank went on to direct the joke of 2015 in Fantastic Four, and is likely not wanting to return to franchise management after the horror stories hear about Fox.
If Venom gets made this time, which it seems like it will, as Sony does not have to worry about the main Spiderman films as well, then it will be one of the few films to spin off in a different continuity than its parent franchise. Rebirth of Mothra is the only example that comes to mind, spinning off of the Godzilla franchise. Yet a Japanese film and a Hollywood film are very different entities and go about production completely differently. The one sure thing is that this movie is a long way off, as it will most certainly be at least 2020 until it sees the screen.
