Just weeks after making its future plans for the Spider-Man franchise clear, Sony Pictures has hired a team of top talent to work on future films set in Peter Parker’s universe, including a movie centered on the villain Venom. Another film will feature the Sinister Six team.
In a press release hidden on ElectroArrives.com, Sony announced that Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner, Ed Solomon, and Drew Goddard will work with producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach to develop a series of films set in the Spider-Man universe, covering all the Marvel characters that Sony has the screen rights to.
The writing crew will work with director Marc Webb and the producers to build on the franchise, which was rebooted with 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man and will continue with next year’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Kurtzman, Orci and Pinker are already writing the third film which will be released in 2016. A fourth film is scheduled for 2018.
Kurtzman and Orci will work with Solomon (Now You See Me, Men in Black) on the Venom film, which Kurtzman will direct. He previously directed the Chris Pine film People Like Us last year.
Goddard was just hired by Marvel to oversee its Netflix Daredevil series, but he will also find the time to write The Sinister Six. He is also looking to direct. The World War Z writer directed the Joss Whedon-produced horror film The Cabin in the Woods.
“The Spider-Man film franchise is one of our studio’s greatest assets,” Doug Belgrad, president of Columbia Pictures, said. “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.”
The news came just weeks after Sony said that it is planning Spider-Man spin-off films, as it tries to get everything it can out of its only franchise. Earlier this month, the studio also released the first teaser for Amazing Spider-Man 2, which opens on May 2.
Sony has not set a timetable for the new films and no actors have been cast.
image: trailer