VENOM Solo Film Is Set to Move Forward at Sony Pictures

Movie Venom by Joey Paur

Thanks to Marvel, Sony Pictures is on the path to bringing Spider-Man back in a way that we’ve never seen him before. Now that they have that figured out, they are setting their sights on other Spider-Man character franchises like Venom.

Before The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was released, the studio was developing a Venom film, most recently with screenwriter Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek) leading the charge. After The Amazing Spider-Man 2 fell below expectations the Venom movie fell into the abyss. 

The project has found its way back into development, though, as the studio recently hired Dante Harper (Edge of Tomorrow) to write the script. The report says that the movie is being envisioned “as a franchise apart from and unrelated to the upcoming Spider-Man movie in the works with actor Tom Holland.” So, the movie is going to stand on its own.

Venom was introduced to the Marvel universe in 1988, and it created by writer David Michelinie and artists Todd McFarlane and Mike Zeck. Venom is an alien symbiote that requires a human host to survive. The alien endows its human host with superpowers. During his run in the comics the character has been a villain who eventually turned into an antihero.

There’s no word on how the character will be presented to us in the film, but I imagine it would probably be easier to use the antihero version of the character, especially if they plan on building a franchise around him. It seems like it might be difficult to portray him as a villain because the movie won’t include Spider-Man, and you can’t have Venom be a villain without him fighting Spider-Man.

Venom made his big screen debut in the disappointing Spider-Man 3 in which he was played by Topher Grace. Before Kurtzman came jumped onto the project, the spin-off film had also been worked on by several other people over the years including writers and directors Gary Ross and Josh Trank. Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese (Deadpool) also worked on a version of the script. 

Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach, who have been involved with all the Spider-Man properties, are producing and overseeing the project. They managed to get a solid screenwriter on board, and as a longtime fan of Venom, I’m excited to see what he does with it. 

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