Thursday
31Jul2008
Spidey Spinoff: 'Venom' Coming to Theaters
Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 12:46AM 
Sony is reportedly setting sail with Venom, basing a
standalone film on a comic book movie villain, similar to the approach that will
be used for the X-Men spinoff featuring Magneto.
The Hollywood Reporter cites both the following
attracted by
Heath Ledger's firmament-shaking turn in
The Dark Knight and a long-in-the-tooth
Spider-Man franchise as reasons to look at the
villain to sell tickets.
I can think of one problem with that: Anyone who saw
Spider-Man 3 probably noticed the piss-poor use
of Venom, along with a lackluster everything else.
Venom's a good character, no question, and the news that
Marvel and Sony would team up to make a movie with that villain at its center
isn't exactly news, either, but as a tentpole? The comparison was made to next
year's
Wolverine movie - the trailer for which
kicks mega ass, by the way - but to the world outside the Marvel Universe, I'm
not certain Venom's maiden voyage was good enough to justify a movie of this
size.
Of course, the Spider-Man franchise rewrote movie
history and in many ways, set the standard for the modern renaissance of
superhero films. So, if this is a direction they want to go, they've certainly
earned it.
The Reporter points out that the fourth Spider-Man
movie is due out in 2011, which would be nine years after the first film, and
the time might come to look for something new. But, man, did the third act of
the last movie really cram a lot in, force feeding us two villains and
butchering the end of the Harry Osborn storyline, which had been progressing
quite nicely until then. I still like the idea for a movie about a villain, and
I still think Venom can be that villain, but I would've been more excited about
this news if the character hadn't yet popped up in the franchise, because I'm
not sure
Sam Raimi really knew what to do with him.
As for casting, The Reporter says it's probably
open.
Topher Grace may not be able to carry the film
where it would need to go financially, and because Venom is a parasite and
attaches itself to new hosts, it can pretty much be anybody, I guess.
We've still never sat down and cranked out our master
list of what comic book characters should and shouldn't get their own movies,
but we'll get to it eventually. I think there are stronger villains out there
than Venom, at least if you're applying the Spider-Man/tortured mutant premise.
Dr. Doom would've been my choice if not for the Fantastic Four movies,
which kind of turned him into a pansy. Then again, it's tough to do that
character without the Four. A Red Skull movie would be cool, too, but hard to
see him without Captain America. Of course, if they're branching out with Venom,
what's to stop Marvel from doing that with any villain, really?
I suppose once you introduce them, no matter how sub-par
the movie is, it's easier to take that next step.
Reader Comments (1)
I love the comic book movies, but seriously, enough already - the horse is dead. Can they not come up with an original idea anymore?