Sony and Columbia have already made $3.2 billion on Spiderman movies since 2002, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is on track to add to that figure nicely. Sony just came up with another way to print money. Last night they announced an expansion of the Spider-Man movie universe with films based on Venom and The Sinister Six.
Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci — who are writing The Amazing Spider-Man 3 with Jeff Pinkner — have been tapped to also write Venom with Ed Solomon (Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Men In Black). The plan is for Kurtzman to also direct Venom, although we wouldn’t be surprised if a more experienced director were hired down the road.
Drew Goddard — who is writing a directing the Daredevil pilot for Netflix — has been hired to write and direct The Sinister Six, which includes villains Doctor Octopus, Vulture, Electro, Mysterio, Sandman, and Kraven the Hunter. Sony seems to love throwing a ton of villains in these movies, for better or worse.
Sony also confirmed release dates of June 10th, 2016, for The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and May 4th, 2018, for The Amazing Spider-Man 4. Andrew Garfield recently said he’s only signed for three movies, so Sony better back up the money truck and start unloading.
You can check out Sony’s full press release about Venom and The Sinister Six in this .pdf file. Full releases are always the best. Yep. We managed to turn a huge comics franchise announcement into a massage parlor joke. That’s the kind of quality reporting you can count on here at UPROXX.