Studio Pushes Ahead With Venom Spin Off

[Paro]

Two writers have been singled out to create a slobbery faced Venom spin off. My stance is pretty simple: no Topher, no thanks. Zombieland writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese told reporters they've been selected to write that script. Although they weren't able to say much about it, they also rushed to reassure fans that they're not going to screw the symbiote with this one:

We read [Venom] growing up, but we were not experts," Reese said. "We certainly know the mythology of Venom, but went back and learned more when it became clear that we could actually get this job...It's source material that everybody knows and everybody's familiar with and everybody loves. There's a burden on you to meet the expectations of people. A lot of people are curious about Venom."

I've always been under the impression that Venom is a love 'em or hate 'em character, so I'm really curious as to how they're going to pull this off. Plus, in order to really sell this movie to the main stream masses you know the studio is going to go after a bigger "tent pole" actor to leverage the cost it will take to make and market the action flick. We've tried to cast Venom before, but let me state for the record that I adored Topher Grace in the "let's never speak of this again" Spider-Man 3 movie. I would be very happy if they kept Grace, but I also liked the idea of James McAvoy. Still, the studio may need to go after someone bigger (muscle and reputation wise).

[Rocket Edge]

Venom is an awesome character. If the studio has all the right intentions I say, go for it. The only thing is I'd imagine they will somehow make it show that Venom is someway a good guy (rather than a primarily evil one), as having a baddie in the feature role is not very Hollywood.

[Vermachtnis]

Venom usually skirts the line between "Bad guy" and anti-hero all the time. I like to see what they do. Venom's one of my favorite characters.

[Shoeberto]

I really wouldn't have minded Topher's performance if they would've actually had him appear as Venom for more than ten minutes of the movie. Who cares about Sandman? I'd be really excited to see a full-length movie with just Venom.

[Slothy]

Wonder how they'll get around the fact that he's dead.

Even if they did come up with an acceptable way around that, I doubt I'll care for this movie. I haven't liked Venom as a character since his original appearance in Spider-Man, and I think they covered that quite well in Spider-Man 3. Trying to turn him into an anti-hero because he was popular was just plain stupid for the character (though not for sales obviously) if you ask me, and he's had about as much character development as Spidey's web shooters since. I'll have to hear some pretty amazing things about it to make me pay to see it.

[Gwawr]

I'm afraid I struggle to get past the 'Oh my god, wasn't that guy in 'That 70s Show'?' thing with Topher Grace.

[Dreddz]

How can you make a movie with Venom and not Spider-Man. Doesn't the tar like substance attach to Spider Man first and then attach to that other guy who becomes Venom.

Of course my knowledge of Spider Man only goes as far as the 90's cartoon show so maybe I'm making a fool out of myself here.

[Balzac]

Wonder how they'll get around the fact that he's dead.

Probably by using one of the countless senarios where he's not dead.

[Ouch!]

How can you make a movie with Venom and not Spider-Man. Doesn't the tar like substance attach to Spider Man first and then attach to that other guy who becomes Venom.

Of course my knowledge of Spider Man only goes as far as the 90's cartoon show so maybe I'm making a fool out of myself here.

Venom has featured in a few stand-alone comics as a main character.