It was recently confirmed that Sony had resumed work on their solo Venom movie, setting a 5 October 2018 release date back in March. That’s really not that far away, and the wheels are definitely in motion, as the star and director have been announced.
THR reports that none other than Tom Hardy will be taking the title role in the film, which will be directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland, Gangster Squad) and written by Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner.
Sony confirmed the casting news with this tweet, which also confirms that Hardy will be playing Eddie Brock, rather than any of the other hosts for the alien symbiote.
Tom Hardy is Eddie Brock in #Venom, the upcoming film from Sony’s Marvel Universe releasing October 5, 2018 – production starts this fall. pic.twitter.com/OZQqDEvoum
— Sony Pictures (@SonyPictures) May 19, 2017
Venom is the first step in Sony’s plans to expand their Spider-Man movie brand. With Peter Parker back in high school and set up in a Marvel co-production, Sony is back in the business of setting up solo movies for other Spidey characters, with Thor writer Chris Yost working on a Silver Sable-Black Cat team-up movie.
Hardy was originally set to scratch his comic book movie itch (having previously starred as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, of course) with David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, but he was forced to drop out of the role of Rick Flag when shooting on The Revenant overran. He made no secret of his disappointment at missing out on that movie, and we’re very interested to see what he’ll bring to Venom, and indeed what the approach to this solo movie will be. Interestingly, Ruben Fleischer was one of the rumoured front-runners for Suicide Squad 2 until this news came along.
Venom and Eddie Brock appeared on the big screen in Sam Raimi’s unwieldy Spider-Man 3 with Topher Grace playing the role of the ambitious journalist who gets a helping hand in taking down his rival from the gooey, toothy alien menace.
Venom will be released on 5 October 2018. Keep up with the latest genre news with the new issue of SciFiNow.
