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Gary Ross To Write/Direct Venom Movie

Posted on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta

venom_by_nebezial_1

Sony has been developing a Marvel Comics spin-off of the Spider-Man villain Venom for some time now, but I never actually believed it would happen. Screenwriting team Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese had written two drafts on the character before moving on to Zombieland. And before Wernick/Reese, the company had previously commissioned Jacob Estes (Mean Creek) to pen a take. It seemed like one of those projects that was just doomed to development heck. Apparently not…

But BFDealMemo has learned that Sony is talks with Spider-Man 4 scribe Gary Ross to rewrite the script and possibly even direct the Venom spin-off. Ross plans to begin the rewrite as soon as he finishes up work on Spidey 4. I enjoyed the hell out of Zombieland, and was actually really interested to see Wernick/Reese’s version. At the same time, I’m also interested to see what Ross will bring to the table. Ross’ screenwriting credits include Big, Mr. Baseball, Dave, Lassie, as well as his two-directorial efforts Pleasentville and Seabiscuit.

Even though the character appeared in Spider-Man 3 with actor Topher Grace playing his human counterpart, the intention is to completely reboot the character in this spin-off. And I think hiring someone other than Topher for the role is a smart move as they really need to do everything they can to differentiate the spin-off from what many believe to be a lackluster third film.

When I was younger, and had more time to read comics, Venom was one of my favorites. But never once did I actually buy an issue of the Venom spin-off series, because I never thought it would be that interesting. And my thoughts are virtually the same on a Venom spin-off film. Venom is one of those baddies who is only as interesting as his opponent. And I’m pretty sure this project would be Spidey-free.

Sony has announced a May 6th 2011 release date for the fourth installment of the Spider-Man series. No word on if the Venom film would somehow be related or connected to that fourth story. Heatvision reports that the studio had no comment on Grace’s involvement nor on Ross writing the project.

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  • That's a shame. Wernick & Reese are great guys who were *really* excited about this possibility
  • Guest
    Maybe, but Zombieland was poor.
  • thorofthunder
    And you're a boatload of fail.
  • yeahhh coool movie
  • jackdurden
    No. No more reboots. Let's just find new characters to adapt, or maybe just take a break from these franchises for a while, like maybe 10-15 years.
  • Christopher_M
    Sony Columbia only own the rights to Ghost Rider and Spider-Man...Disney has dibs on any "new" characters that haven't been adapted...expect 20th Century Fox and Sony/Columbia to milk those properties until the rights revert back to Marvel....I don't mind a Venom or many Spider-Man sequels..I just don't like the time between them...they should have a team of writers working on these scripts similar to what is going on at Marvel Studios..
  • James
    Awesome! He must have written something great for Spider-Man 4 for Sony to get him to write and possibly direct Venom. I just want to know what villain/villains will be in Spider-Man 4.
  • Yeah that's the only thing I get from this. I can't wait to hear the synopsis for SM4.
  • thorofthunder
    Get rid of Topher Grace.
  • Then cast his as Spidey in the new ones.
  • asianrage
    Um, no. Topher Grace should not be anywhere near Spiderman.
  • plagueoftruth
    I wasn't that fond of Seabiscuit (although I can acknowledge it was a well made film) but Pleasantville is wonderful. I have a little more faith now.
  • Billybill
    I have no faith in the character of venom holding an entire 90+ minutes of anything known as "entertainment"
  • Yes it will be interesting to see how they're going to make a villain a hero. I know he once was an anti-hero but are people really going to watch this?
  • freemachine
    "...people really going to watch this?"

    I'd download the rough-cut...
  • greggorybasore
    Hee hee hee, thanks for putting a smile on my face!
  • [A]
    I don't understand how can it be a reboot -- not that it surprises me, really. So it's more like a rebooted spin-off..? Hollywood these days..
  • I guess it's something like what Fox is doing with Deadpool. I mean do we really want to see the version in Wolverine in a 90 minute movie?
  • [A]
    Point taken. Not that FOX could do any good to Deadpool.
  • CyT
    WTF . .Venom is way better than spiderman. I recommend going and buying some now and read into his devilish split mind. I made a point of only owning Venom comics as Spiderman is so whimpy.
  • Nice to know they're not following the Spider-man 3 character.
  • When are people going to learn that spin-offs don't work? I literally can't think of a single successful spin-off from a successful franchise. Oh except Caravan Of Courage: The Ewok Adventure. That was frickin' awesome. Neechawawa!
  • existenz
    I was going to mention "Angel", spun off from the Buffy, or "Frasier" from Cheers, but TV is a different beast. Like you I can't think of any movie spinoffs that worked. US Marshals, Supergirl, Elektra, Beauty Shop, Evan Almighty -- all crap.

    Anyone have any suggestions?
  • Solid
    Venom's a fascinating character, even though he was butchered completely in spidey 3 (Attack of the half assed script) I'd welcome a film about him done well, but Im not holding my proverbial breath on that one since its hollywod and they suck at adapting everything.
  • greggorybasore
    I'd rather they keep Topher Grace unless they're planning to replace Eddie Brock as the host. First off I dislike recasting between sequels, secondly I liked Grace as young Eddie Brock and thirdly I'd rather see a Venom movie about a different host (let's say the Scorpion) than watch something that has Eddie Brock played by another character and gets reworked or retconned or what the hell ever.
  • Never been a huge Venom fan...kind of curious about the Zombieland guy's draft.
  • The recent Venom mini-series (2003) was actually very cool, and worked well as a stand-alone story. It only featured a couple of well known characters towards the end, and could have easily been pulled off without them. It's geared more as a suspense-horror tale, giving more information about what the symbiote has become, and also refreshingly doesn't feature Eddie Brock at all.
  • Now, Variety was who started this whole thing, are they the epitome of credibility? I mean... is a Venom movie REALLY going to happen? I just dont see it

    And if so....i have like just about 70 questions about it that all start with the word "How..."
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