Oh, By the Way, Sony’s Releasing a Venom Movie Next Year
By Buckie Wells
Yes, you read that right. Sony’s working on a standalone Venom movie to be released in October 2018 and launch a separate franchise from Spider-Man’s.
What the what.
Venom is an iconic character and one of the best Spider-Man villains, coming in a close second to only the Green Goblin. But his live-action debut in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 film left much to be desired. Next to nothing worked in that movie, but Topher Grace as Venom was one of the least pleasing things. To be fair, the computer graphics of the symbiote came out beautifully and I kept the film’s poster hanging in my room for quite some time.
(I was a child. I didn’t know any better.)
But I know better now. I know that the superhero genre is competitive and I know that Sony won’t give up until they prove they’re worthy of keeping the Spider-Man rights in their house. Marvel’s staging a comeback with Spider-Man: Homecoming, but then again, people really love Venom. More importantly, he deserves a second chance.
As announced Thursday, Sony plans to give him one on October 5, 2018.
Of course, Venom has undergone several iterations in the comics and other media as often as the symbiote switches hosts. So Sony has plenty of material to work with. However, it seems like an odd time to launch a franchise with Tom Holland holding the reigns of Spider-Man as part of the MCU. And since Venom and Spider-Man often appear together, does that make Venom part of the MCU? Or does Sony just want to truly spin it by itself and watch it crash and burn? Unfortunately, Sony’s not as bulletproof as Marvel in terms of blockbuster films. Plus, the latest draft comes from Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner, who both worked on a Spider-Man movie before and co-wrote the upcoming Jumanji film.
So take that as you will.
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If all goes well, next October will be watching Eddie Brock or Flash Thompson don a black suit and do weird things. What a time to be alive. (Also, how cool would it be if Sony went with Flash Thompson, a disabled man, to fight crime as Venom?)
Stay tuned for this weekend’s announcement of a Carnage film.