'Spider-Man' Spinoff 'Venom' Revived at Sony (Exclusive)

By Borys Kit

Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach, stewards of the Spider-Man properties, are producing and overseeing the new film.

Now that Sony has set Spider-Man on its rebooted path, the studio is setting its sights on other Spider-Man franchises. Case in point: Venom.

Sony has tapped Dante Harper to pen a script for Venom, something that is being envisioned as a franchise apart from and unrelated to the upcoming Spider-Man movie in the works with actor Tom Holland.

Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach, stewards of the Spider-Man properties, are producing and overseeing the project.

Venom is one of Marvel’s top villains and a Spider-Man fixture since he was introduced in 1988, created by writer David Michelinie and artists Todd McFarlane and Mike Zeck. The character is an alien symbiote that need a human host to survive. In return, the alien empowers its victim with incredible powers.

For the longest time, Venom was a villain but then morphed into an anti-hero and even (almost) good guy. In his current incarnation, Venom is paired with Flash Thompson, a Peter Parker bully-turned-close friend and now a government agent.

It is unclear which Venom incarnation is being used for the new project.

The character made its screen appearance in Spider-Man 3 and was played by Topher Grace. A spinoff has been in development in several incarnations, with Gary Ross and Josh Trank among the director coming and going, and writers such as Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese (Deadpool) and Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci penning versions.

This Venom is meant to not only stand on its own but to also launch its own franchise.

Palak Patel and Eric Fineman are overseeing Venom for Sony’s Columbia label.

Harper is an up-and-coming scribe who did rewrite work on Edge of Tomorrow, the time travel sci-fi movie that starred Tom Cruise. He also co-wrote Sleepless Night, the crime thriller that stars Jamie Foxx and Dermot Mulroney.

He is repped by CAA, Management 360, and Lichter, Grossman.