Marvel films are in an odd position. Instead of all of the characters under the umbrella of Marvel Studios, our comic stalwarts are parceled off to various production entities. Many are in the MCU, including the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy, but the X-Men still belong to Fox and up until Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man was a member of the Sony family. It is a tangled web of rights, and while the MCU continues to churn out hit after hit and Fox has had huge success on the backs of Deadpool and Logan, Sony’s Spider-Man films never really found their feet. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone were charming enough as Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, but The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was particularly underwhelming and eventually led to the character being handed over to join the Avengers.
Despite this, Sony is still going forward with a spin off film about Venom, the classic web slinging villain, despite the fact that it will have no connection to the current Spider-Man universe. This new version of Venom would be expected to stand alone and kickstart a new franchise. It was reported last year that Venom would be getting his own film, but now Sony has announced that October 5, 2018 has officially been snagged for a release date. No director or star has been attached yet, but Dante Harper (Edge Of Tomorrow) will be penning the script.
This isn’t the first time that Sony has attempted to get a Venom off the ground. Back in 2013, a Venom film and a Sinister Six spin-off were announced, but both were shelved due to The Amazing Spider-Man 2‘s underperformance. Honestly, one can’t help but wonder why they’re going forward with the project now. Perhaps Sony will attempt to capitalize on the success of recent R-rated superhero films and go for a darker iteration of the character. Even so, it feels like a hard sell. At the very least, let’s hope they’ve learned from Spider-Man 3 to avoid casting Topher Grace types for Eddie Brock.
(Via Variety)
