User blog:ProfessorKilroy/Sony Announces "Venom" & "Sinister Six" Films

Not long after Fox announced plans for X-Men: Apocalypse, we have news that Sony have formed a brain trust of writers Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner, Ed Solomon and Drew Goddard, producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach, and director Marc Webb, with the intention of expanding the Spider-Man film universe with a continuous thread and tone throughout. Their announced plans are as follows:


 * The Amazing Spider-Man 3: Will release on 10th June, 2016. Kurtzman, Orci and Pinkner will write the screenplay, and Sony is hoping Webb will come back to direct the film.


 * Venom: Kurtzman, Orci & Solomon will write the screenplay, and Kurtzman will direct.


 * The Sinister Six: Goddard will write and direct.

Producers, Arad and Tolmach stated, "This collaboration was born out of the great experience we and Marc had working with Alex, Bob, and Jeff on The Amazing Spider-Man 2. With more than fifty years’ wealth of stories in the comic books to draw upon for inspiration, the Spider-Man universe is truly boundless; in addition, the Spider-Man comics have the greatest rogues gallery of any series, and to have the chance to explore that on film is truly thrilling. Until now, we have approached each film as a separate, self-contained entity, but with this move, we have the opportunity to grow the franchise by looking to the future as we develop a continuous arc for the story. That is what Alex, Bob, Jeff, Ed, and Drew will do in this unprecedented collaboration, and we’re excited about the directions they are taking the character and the world."

So, I'm pretty excited, but of course, this does leave some questions. With plans for Venom and The Sinister Six, where does this leave the previously announced The Amazing Spider-Man 4 film slated for release on 4th May, 2018? Perhaps, it will be replaced by either of the two recently announced films. Or perhaps these will be released before the third Amazing Spider-Man film, which would in turn take the 2018 release date. Also, traditionally Venom's origin includes Spider-Man using the symbiote black suit, before Eddie Brock. So, will we see something like this in Venom or Amazing Spider-Man 3?

Also of interest is that Drew Goddard is also set to run the Daredevil TV series on Netflix (which I'm assuming is in the Cinematic Universe, as it's yet to be confirmed). So, he'll have one foot in each of Marvel's and Sony's Cinematic Universes over the coming years, which may improve chances of a crossover...

Anyway, what are your thoughts on this news?