To be honest, I’m a huge Topher Grace fan. I have some serious man-love for that guy, and love pretty much everything he is in. He was good too for some of the last Spider-man movie; until he turned in to Venom. But let’s be totally clear here – and this isn’t just my man-love speaking – Topher was given a horribly written plot to deal with; kudos to him for even making it through to the end of the film.
All of that aside though, the news is good. According to IESB, confirmation has been received that "the studio" has met recently with several "A list writers" about a spin-off film.
Before we get too excited, there may be some legal issues to deal with. We know that Marvel have been enjoying making their own films, with no intrusions from big-label studios, imposing their rule upon their characters. So that they would want to do this movie is natural, and promising considering that the rights reverted back to them from New Line Cinemas, who held them eight years ago.
However Venom’s inclusion in the Sony Pictures produced Spider-man 3 may cause some complications. Does Sony have the rights to Venom? Or do Marvel still own control over the character. I imagine that it will be in the fine print of some document somewhere, so we’ll wait to hear. One indication that Marvel does own control of the theatrical rights to this character is the fact there is any movement whatsoever. Sony Pictures is still affected by the writers’ strike, but since Marvel sealed an interim deal with the WGA, they are now exempt.
But in terms of a movie focusing on Venom, many questions arise immediately. For those whose only knowledge of the character is thanks to the Spider-man 3 movie, here is what Wikipedia has to say about him/her/it;
Venom, or the Venom Symbiote, is the name given to the first symbiote life form to appear in the fictional Marvel Universe. The creature is a sentient alien with a liquid-like form. It requires a host, usually human, to bond around for its survival. In return the Venom creature gives its host enhanced powers.
Questions like “will Spider-man appear?” and “will any other super-villains appear?” are natural, but answerable only in the future. For now, we can simply hope that Topher Grace is either on the film and given a better script, or removed.