December 13, 2013

Sony Announces Directors For VENOM And SINISTER SIX Spin-Off Films



Sony announced today that they will indeed be moving forward with two Amazing Spider-Man spin-off movies, Venom which has been in development for years and one focusing the villain supergroup The Sinister Six. They went on to confirm new writers and directors for both projects, this comes off the recent reports that Sony was hinting to creating their own expanded Marvel Cinematic Universe with the Spider-Man characters.

Director Marc Webb and producer Avi Arad will head up the brain trust of the franchise which will see Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner (Fringe, Alias, Lost), Ed Solomon (Men In Black, Super Mario Bros, Charlie's Angels, Bill And Ted, Now You See Me) and Drew Goddard (Cabin In The Woods, Daredevil)  pen the scripts for the films, Kurtzman and Orci currently are involved with Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), Amazing Spider-Man 3 (2016) and Amazing Spider-Man 4 (2017). Nothing says this trust will stop at two spin-off films as there are plenty of characters that could get their own movies such as Black Cat, Morbius The Living Vampire (if they own the rights to him) and future set Spider-Man 2099 (think Star Trek Into Darkness or Minority Report with superheroes).



Alex Kurtzman is actually attached to direct Venom, which is a bit of a shocker since he's only made one film People Like Us, that didn't do so well with critics or box office as it wasn't able to even make back it's tiny $16 million dollar budget (even though Star Trek's Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks starred). Josh Trank (Chronicle) had originally been attached to direct but his commitments to Fox's Fantastic Four reboot might have led to his replacement. It also sounds like the studio is tossing the script from Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese (Deadpool, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Zombieland). Alex has been better known as an accomplished writer helping pen scripts for Hercules, Xena, Alias, The Island, The Legend of Zorro, MI3, Transformers, Star Trek, Cowboys And Aliens, Fringe and Edge of Tomorrow. It will be interesting to see which host they'll turn to for the movie, Eddie Brock has been established with the viral campaign but the more heroic Flash Thompson is the current incarnation of the villain turned hero.



While Drew Goddard will direct The Sinister Six, this not being his first venture into the Marvel world. He's currently working on Marvel Studios' Daredevil Netflix pilot that he'll write and direct, Drew will also act as the series Showrunner. Besides being a writer at Lost, Drew co-wrote Cabin In The Woods with Joss Whedon which he also directed. Not unlike Alex, he has a longstanding record as a writer also helping pen scripts for Buffy, Angel, Lost, Alias, Cloverfield (and it's untitled) sequel along with last-minute rewrites to World War Z.

The final lineup hasn't been revealed but it looks like Harry/Green Goblin will be it's leader, as it's been teased he's behind creating the villains (such as Electro and Rhino). Other additions could include The Vulture, Doc Ock and possibly a cat-burglar with a bit of sweet-spot for Spider-Man. There had been previous hints that Black Cat could be involved with the group, if she does make the cut in this spin-off it might set her up as Spidey's side-kick/love interest in future films. It's possible that other members such as Kraven The Hunter or Mysterio won't be hinted to or cameo in the film.



No release or production start dates have been announced but it's possible we could see one of two spin-offs eye an 2015 release date. As 2015 won't have a Spider-Man title released in that year.

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