Home Entertainment Venom movie still happening, Chronicle's Josh Trank to direct?

Venom movie still happening, Chronicle's Josh Trank to direct?

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When it comes to Spider-Man 3, it’s kind of hard to beat the musical stylings of Tobey Maguire’s emo Peter Parker for pure cringe-inducing badness, but gosh darn it, Topher Grace as Venom sure gave it his best shot. So imagine my surprise when talk began surfacing of a Venom spin-off movie in 2009.

At the time, Zombieland writers Paul Wernick & Rhett Reese were providing a screenplay with a second draft by Jacob Estes, while Gary Ross was going to direct. Ross (who clearly must have finally got around to watching Spidey 3) then dropped out to do the Hunger Games trilogy instead and the film sort of lost all momentum.

But now a new hat has apparently been thrown into the ring: Chronicle director, Josh Trank.

According to the LA Times, a secret source attached to the project has informed them that Trank is currently involved in negotiations with Sony to bring the long-tongued alien symbiote (he must be a hit with the ladies) back to the silver screen. And luckily for the rest of humanity, the horrendously cast Topher Grace is not expected to reprise the role.

The same source indicated that Estes’ draft, which saw Venom depicted closer to his Lethal Protector” anti-hero stage in the comics than the villain of the films, was being scrapped and that Sony was still searching for a new writer. No confirmation as of yet as to whether this Venom film would take place in the same universe as Marc Webb’s new rebooted Amazing Spider-Man, but with the massive crossover success that other Marvel properties are having, you would have to think that this is in the back of the minds of the Sony execs. I mean, since when has the possibility of getting more money ever not occurred to them?

Trank has already displayed a fairly good grasp of dark themed super-powered characters in Chronicle, so this is actually a pretty good choice. If it pans out, then it would seem that Trank has become the new go-to guy for this type of movie, as he has also been attached to the Fantastic Four reboot in the past, which apparently will also be taking a more serious tone than it’s 2005 cheesefest counterpart.

Also, I’m still not convinced that Venom – despite how cool and popular the character is in the comics – can actually carry an entire film, though I’d love for them to prove me wrong. The world simply doesn’t have enough heroes who are willing to eat criminals’ faces.

Last Updated: March 7, 2012

3 Comments

  1. James Francis

    March 7, 2012 at 14:23

    Venom is a very popular villain and arguably the most popular Spider-Man bad guy. The real shame of the third movie was how it ruined this character. Also, Venom doesn’t need a side-kick and it sure doesn’t need to be that sand guy. If they want a double-booking, get Carnage involved. 

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      March 7, 2012 at 15:11

      Well, Carnage would be the only real feasible antagonist in a Venom movie, but the problem of course being how similar the characters are.

      Reply

      • James Francis

        March 7, 2012 at 15:14

        True, and to separate them with the nuance required is beyond anyone who can get a job at Marvel’s film division.

        Reply

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