After indicating last month that it planned to expand its Spider-Man franchise, Sony Pictures has today announced that it’s developing a Venom solo movie, as well as bringing the villains of its Spidey universe together for a spin-off featuring The Sinister Six.
Making the announcement, Columbia Pictures president Doug Belgrad revealed that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 scriptwriters Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Jeff Pinker have signed on to write 2016’s The Amazing Spider-Man 3, while Kurtzman, Orci and Ed Solomon will write the solo Venom movie, which has Kurtzman attached to direct. Meanwhile Drew Goddard, who is currently penning the pilot of the Marvel Studios miniseries Daredevil, has also been tapped to script The Sinister Six, with an eye to him also directing.
“This collaboration was born out of the great experience we and Marc had working with Alex, Bob, and Jeff on The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” said The Amazing Spider-Man producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach. “With more than fifty years’ wealth of stories in the comic books to draw upon for inspiration, the Spider-Man universe is truly boundless; in addition, the Spider-Man comics have the greatest rogues gallery of any series, and to have the chance to explore that on film is truly thrilling. Until now, we have approached each film as a separate, self-contained entity, but with this move, we have the opportunity to grow the franchise by looking to the future as we develop a continuous arc for the story. That is what Alex, Bob, Jeff, Ed, and Drew will do in this unprecedented collaboration, and we’re excited about the directions they are taking the character and the world.”
While no release dates for Venom and The Sinister Six have been announced as yet, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will swing into cinemas on April 18th 2014 in the UK and May 2nd 2014 in North America with a cast that includes Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Sally Field, Paul Giamatti, Chris Cooper, Felicity Jones, Colm Feore, B.J. Novak, Chris Zylka, Embeth Davidtz, and Campbell Scott.
What are your thoughts on Venom and The Sinister Six getting their own movies? Let us know in the comments below…
Originally published December 13, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
