Not to be outdone by recent announcements by Warner Bros regarding Batman vs Superman and Fox regarding X-Men: Apocalypse, Sony has dropped a little bit of a bombshell of their own. The studio seems to have quite a bit of faith in their Amazing Spider-Man series, because they’re planning to have this iteration of the wall-crawler (and his crew) around for a while.
After next year’s Amazing Spider-Man 2, work will start on two more sequels, set for 2016 and 2018, however ASM 4 might not star Spidey at all if Andrew Garfield is to be believed (and not just laying the groundwork for negotiations),
“I mean I’m under contract for another one after [‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2‘] … as far as a forth one? That’s not anything to do with me. But yeah, I think what we’re doing here is we’ve established the world. And now we get to really play inside that world.”
So what could we see in 2018? Well, it could be one of the spin-offs that Sony just announced. The studio has plans for films that focus on Spider-Man villains Venom and the Sinister Six.
Amazing Spider-Man 2 writers Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Jeff Pinkner will also write part 3 and will be joined by Ed Solomon (Now You See Me) and Drew Goddard (The Cabin in the Woods) to oversee the expansion of the franchise. The group will be splitting off to handle the individual films.
Kurtzman, Orci and Soloman will be in charge of Venom, with Kurtzman directing. Sinister Six will be written (and possibly directed) by Drew Goddard. Presumably this would come after his obligations to Daredevil for Netflix are finished.
Obviously it’s not yet known which line-up of the Sinister Six the film will use and which version of Venom will make it to the screen. Eddie Brock, who serves no purpose without Spider-Man, or Flash Thompson, who needs a significant amount of character development to make any sense. Also unknown is who the Sinister Six is set to go up against. It’s not like there are a lot of heroes that came with Sony’s Spider-Man deal.
Here’s the full press release, if you’re interested.
CULVER CITY, Calif., December 12, 2013 – In a move to forge a new legacy in the story of Peter Parker on screen, Sony Pictures Entertainment, in association with Marvel Entertainment, is developing several new projects in the Spider-Man franchise, with Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner, Ed Solomon, and Drew Goddard to collaborate on overseeing the developing story over several films that will be produced by Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach, it was announced today by Doug Belgrad,president of Columbia Pictures, and Hannah Minghella, president of Production for the studio.
The five writers, along with the two producers and Marc Webb, have formed a franchise brain trust to expand the universe for the brand and to develop a continuous tone and thread throughout the films. Under the deals, the studio announced that Kurtzman & Orci & Pinkner are writing the screenplay for The Amazing Spider-Man 3, which the studio hopes Webb will return to direct; the film will go into production next fall for release on June 10, 2016. In addition, the team will build on the cinematic foundation laid by Webb, Arad, and Tolmach in the first two movies. They will expand the franchise as Kurtzman & Orci & Solomon will write the screenplay for Venom, which Kurtzman will direct; also, Goddard will write, with an eye to direct, The Sinister Six, focusing on the villains in the franchise. Hannah Minghella and Rachel O’Connor will oversee the development and production of these films for the studio.
In tapping these five writers, the studio and the producers are guiding the future of the franchise with the writer/producers who have each played significant and key roles in developing such highly successful franchises, films, and series as Star Trek, Transformers, “Alias,” “Fringe,” Men in Black, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, World War Z, “Lost,” Cloverfield, The Cabin in the Woods, and Marvel’s upcoming “Daredevil” series.
Commenting on the announcement, Belgrad said, “The Spider-Man film franchise is one of our studio’s greatest assets. We are thrilled with the creative team we have assembled to delve more deeply into the world that Marc, Avi and Matt have begun to explore in The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. We believe that Marc, Alex, and Drew have uniquely exciting visions for how to expand the Spider-Man universe in each of these upcoming films.” Arad and Tolmach added, “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.”
