5. Set It In The Same Universe As The Amazing Spider-Man
I think this is key. In an unsurprising but odd development, when it was announced that Sony were looking to develop a Venom movie, they were going to try and Avengerise the Spideyverse. They would make several one off films featuring characters from the Spider-Man universe and they would then later bring them all together for an Avengers like team up. Now, I am sure you can see the issue with this. Spider-Man has a big rogue and ally gallery, but I am not sure if it is quite big enough to sustain a massive team up. Once you get past a Venom and Black Cat movie, you may find yourself left a little wanting. However, that doesn't mean that we should exclude a Venom stand alone from The Amazing Spider-Man universe. We are entering an age where franchises are going to have connective continuities and that isn't a bad thing. By having events from one story influence another it does open up interesting narrative dynamics. Sharing the universe allows story tangents be brought up in one movie and then explored in another, as well as the fact it allows actors crossing over from one story to another. There is tons of story telling potential in movie franchises crossing over and making a broader and singular universe.