Gary Ross to Write and Direct 'Venom'?

Hmm...now this is interesting. As a fan of Gary Ross, I'd like to see the writer-director of Dave, Pleasantville, and Seabiscuit work a little more frequently. He's currently working on Tokyo Suckerpunch and the script for Spider-Man 4, and Variety says he might be the latest big name director to helm a Marvel Comics movie.

The rumor is that he's going to direct Venom, as well as polish the script turned in by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the guys riding highest on the success of Zombieland. As great as that screenplay was, Gary Ross brings a little more experience with character development, although you could obviously claim that his style is between 90 and 180 degrees away from where Venom should optimally be. We don't know much else other than Topher Grace shouldn't be waiting for a call - no surprise - and that Sony wants to start over from scratch with the character.

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'Zombieland' Writer Confirms 'Venom' Revisions

The next two or three years are going to be interesting to watch for Marvel comics heroes. Because of the pending Disney deal - a $4 billion blockbuster - and the efforts by the estate of artist and writer Jack Kirby to wrest the rights of certain characters away from Marvel, we should see a huge run on the heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe.

We already know there are plans to reboot The Fantastic Four and Daredevil, do a few more things with X-Men, pursue a Silver Surfer movie, and make a Ghost Rider sequel on top of the Avengers arc Marvel is building over at Paramount and probably three more Spider-Man flicks. Building off of Spider-Man 3, Sony is devoting some attention to Venom. Talking to Zombieland co-writer Paul Wernick, Sci-Fi Wire found out that Sony has already seen two drafts of Venom and now, as Wernick puts it, "They're pushing forward in whatever ways they push forward."

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Writers Say There Are "Super Secret" Plans for 'Venom'

There have been strong hints since the summer of 2007 that Spider-Man 3 villain Venom would get his own spin-off, and while writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese won't say much about it, they do acknoledge that it's on the way eventually.

The pair told Sci-Fi Wire that they can't talk about the project per se, because it's "super secret," although not so secret that they couldn't say they don't know anything about it. Right now, the project is scheduled for 2012, so Reese and Wernick certainly have time to map it out. They admit they're not starting from scratch, but they don't sound incredibly confident that they know where the story is going, either.

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Spidey Spinoff: 'Venom' Coming to Theaters

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.