Venom: 10 Mistakes Sony Must Avoid With The Spider-Man Spin-Off
There'll be carnage if this one isn't R-rated.
For a while it looked like Sony's Spider-Man movie ambitions had been doused with a lethal dose of bug repellent.
Things looked bleak for the studio following the below-par performance of the Andrew Garfield films and Spidey's Marvel introduction, but it recently surprised fans with the news that its long-mooted Venon solo movie is back on the agenda.
Make no mistake, Sony is deadly serious about Venom. Not only is the company prioritising the project, it's only gone and convinced Mad Max star Tom Hardy to cover himself in black goo for the lead role.
Zombieland helmer Ruben Fleischer will direct the Spidey spinoff and it is expected to be followed by a Black Cat and Silver Sable movie.
Beyond the director and lead actor announcement, little else is known about the Venom film, but one thing is for sure, Sony will have to get this one right to have any hope of clinging onto a sliver of the Marvel Universe.
The company doesn't have the greatest track record on this front, given that the sublime Spider-Man 2 is its only truly outstanding contribution to the franchise.
However, there are lessons it can heed from the past to ensure Venom's solo cinematic debut doesn't disappoint.
10. Revert To A PG-13 Rating
Please, for the love of Odin, let the reports of an R-rating be true.
We have every faith that Sony will see sense on this one and avoid the potentially fatal mistake of reverting to the dreaded PG-13 certificate.
Both Deadpool and Logan are living proof that ultra-violent comic book movies not only work, but can also be box office gold.
Ticket sales, of course, should be a secondary concern but Sony simply wouldn't be doing Venom justice if they toned him down for a family audience.
The symbiote is one of the most violent and deadly entities in the Marvel Universe and some of the best Venom comics have used horror elements to great effect - there's even an issue where the protagonist eats an adversary's brain, for Pete's sake.
If the filmmakers have any regard for the source material, they'll take a no-holds-barred approach with Venom.