Sony not Marvel looking at VENOM spin-off
Back in February we reported on the totally unexpected story that Marvel were looking to develop a stand-alone movie based on the popular and no doubt big money winner on Spider-Man 3... the monstrous villain Venom. Yes that was Marvel and not Sony, as Marvel actually own the character and are now in a position to make their own movies as we have seen with Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk this year. I scoffed at the idea, more accurately I damn sure wrote it off as a failure already. I find Venom such a boring character who only works as a great video game villain or in one or two stories in the comics, but to see him as a main character in a sympathetic movie.... zzzzzzzzzzzz! So then a few months passed and I believed that was the last we had heard on the project. That was until this morning when The Hollywood Reporter ran an article claiming that writers were being sought for the film... and that it's a Sony project and not a Marvel one. This would mean it would still be continuity with the events of Spider-Man 3 as it's the same studio and it would be the first spin-off to the billion dollar franchise that started in 2002. The trades say Sony had originally pushed on a draft script from writer Jacob Estes (writer/director of Mean Creek) but have since changed their minds and are actively seeking new scribes. It's also said they wish to re-cast the role from Topher Grace to a bigger star who could carry a tentpole release, which is easy done after the fate of the character in the last movie and the idea that the venom parasite could have attached itself to someone else. Though it means a Venom movie won't be about Eddie Brock. Nah, I don't get this. There is still so much potential in the Spider-Man franchise, so many villains and themes not yet explored... the last thing I want to see is a Jekyll and Hyde movie about Venom. Get Daredevil back on screen with Ben Affleck and an awesome script/director... get Thor off the ground... make a movie on the God damn Tomb of Dracula before Universal make a Dracula movie (which is inevitable with all these horror characters coming back) and get X-Men 4 and Spider-Man 4 with new writing/directing talent and MAKE IT GOOD. Don't waste your time on Venom.