The Hollywood Reporter is claiming Sony Pictures is in the early stages of developing a spin-off film centered around Venom from the Spider-Man franchise.
Venom was supposedly killed off in Spider-Man 3 after his brief existence portrayed by Topher Grace. Early word is the studio isn’t convinced Topher can carry a tentpole film in the lead so other agents are salivating at the opportunity to put their clients in the role.
Jacob Estes, a writer of the specialty film Mean Creek, had already turned in a completed draft to Sony. But the studio is apparently not sold on the Estes draft and is looking elsewhere for new writers which will push the project back further.
The push to get Venom in production comes after Sony confirmed plans to release a fourth Spider-Man film sometime in 2011. With a three year break between then and now and superhero movies like Iron Man and The Dark Knight raking in mega bucks at the box office, Sony doesn’t want to be left behind in case the interest in superhero films wanes.
