Venom

[Space Pirate Roberts]

Well, this is right out of left field.

IESB Exclusive: Venom Stand Alone Film Moving Forward!
Written by Robert Sanchez
Saturday, 02 February 2008

Eddie Brock to get his stand alone film, Venom is coming back to the big screen!

One of the biggest disappointments from Spider-Man 3 was how they developed the villains, or actually how they didn't develop the villains, but between the three baddies that we had to contend with the biggest let down was Eddie Brock A.K.A. Venom.

Venom, by far one of the coolest villains in the Spider-Man universe, was played poorly by Topher Grace and was definitely one of the biggest let downs in the entire Spider-Man trilogy.

Not to say Topher Grace was the wrong man for the job, but with poor material and a badly put together movie, you just weren't going to get any stellar performances. I mean, asking God to kill Peter Parker is one of the lamest lines I've ever heard.

But Venom fans rejoice, Marvel is moving forward with a new stand alone film, yep you heard right, Venom is coming back to the big screen.

We've confirmed that "the studio" has met recently with several "A list writers" about a spin-off film.

Eight years ago, New Line Cinema held the theatrical rights to Venom. Since then, the rights have reverted back Marvel. But does Sony have complete control over the character since he was a part of Spidey 3 or does Marvel control the rights to the character with Sony only having distribution rights?

We have to assume that since there is movement and there has been recent meetings with writers this property must belong to Marvel since they have made an interim agreement with the WGA and proceed to develop projects during the current strike. Either way, one thing is for certain, Venom will get a second shot at the big screen.

Will it be a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type of storyline or are we going to see other characters from the Marvel universe such as Scorpion or maybe even Carnage? Let the assumptions and speculation begin. We will try to get Marvel and/or Sony to go on the record early next week.

[Dyne]

so Topher or not?

also *yawn*

[YellerDog]

Because Leathal Protector was really great.


Oh good.

[Dolemite]

Weird. Still, they're been talking about doing a stand-alone Venom film for years.

As a huge, huge Venom fan, I'm happy about this, although I am having mixed feelings. I mean, Venom's always been at his best as a bad guy. It's when they gave him his own comic series and tried to make him somewhat "good" that he started sucking. The same will probably hold true for a film. It's not like they can keep him a 100% bad guy if he's starring in his own movie. Then again, when he wasn't trying to kill Spiderman, he was never 100% evil anyway, what with the whole "protecting the innocent" thing.

It's hard to say how this could turn out. The movie totally needs Carnage, however.

As for how Toper Grace played Eddie, he was…okay, I guess. Totally miscast, but did as well as he could with the limp material.

And I really liked how Venom looked in Spidey 3. Just make him bulkier, and lose the web pattern on the suit. And make the voice less gay. Otherwise, Spidey 3 Venom was spot-on. I even loved the bizarre screeching noises he made.

[Advocate]

hmm ... weird. Good job Gas. Thanks for picking up the slack.

[YellerDog]

My favorite-ever Venom stuff was Spider-Man trapping him on the deserted island and faking his own death to convince him to stay there. It's Really Stupid that that's not going to make it into the movies.

Venom is a terrible stand-alone character.

[Port]

I have zero expectations for this. I am pretty sure they will be met.

[YellerDog]

Nicholas Cage as Carnage, plz.

[BerringerX]

Hopefully Goyer is kept away.

Goyer talked to Epstein about one of his Marvel scripts that so far has gone unproduced. A while back Goyer wrote the script for a Venom feature film. He does not recall the experience fondly, “Yeah, that was a bit of a [pause and a breath]. It wasn't great [laughs]. I never was a big Venom fan and, at the time, the people at New Line really wanted me to do it. It's one of the few times that - even though I love New Line - I allowed myself to be talked into something.”

According to Goyer it wasn’t that hard to write a Venom movie without Spider-Man. Goyer explained Venom’s spider logo as being the containment mark of an arachnid alien species that lives on the planet where the symbiote had it’s origins.

The film Venom was true to the character’s roots and not exactly a hero. Goyer said, “Venom wasn't a great guy but, in the script, his enemy Carnage was infinitely worse. He was an anti-hero kind of like Blade. He's not a hero when the movie begins. There was always a Jekyll and Hyde element to it. He was wrestling with the symbiote the whole time.”

Hopefully this time they can do a lot more justice towards the character.

Also: Avoid dialogue such as: "I like being bad. It makes me happy."

[YellerDog]

A "Venom" movie from the point of view of say, a military team armed with flamethrowers and sonic-guns sent to take him down could be very interesting.