“Venom 3” just took a major step towards materializing.
Sony has tapped Kelly Marcel to write the currently untitled sequel, sources confirmed to IndieWire. Marcel co-wrote “Venom” and “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” and has served as a producer on both films. “Venom 3” is still in the early stages of development, but Marcel is writing the screenplay based on a story that she developed with Tom Hardy. Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, Amy Pascal, and Hutch Parker are also producing. There is no confirmed release date or production timeline.
“Venom 3” will mark Marcel’s directorial debut. She is also known for writing “Cruella,” “Fifty Shades of Grey,” and “Saving Mr. Banks” as well as creating the television series “Terra Nova.”
Despite receiving mixed reviews, the “Venom” franchise has proved itself to be a consistently profitable series for a studio that lacks many high-profile comic book properties. The first film was released in 2018 and ended up grossing $856 million worldwide. Its sequel, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” hit theaters in late 2021 and grossed $507 million (though the pandemic prevented it from opening in China, which cut into its total).
“Venom 3” was first announced by Sony during a CinemaCon panel in 2022, but Hardy was speaking openly about the possibility of a third movie before the second one was even released.
“I’m thinking about the third movie as well, because I think you need to write that at the same time,” Hardy said in August 2021. “A third won’t be greenlit until the second is successful, but the studio [was] really, really pleased with number two.”
The actor also spoke about his desire to see Venom cross paths with the characters in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe someday.
“Should both sides be willing, and it be beneficial to both sides, I don’t see why it couldn’t be,” he said. “I hope and strongly, with both hands, push, eagerly, towards that potential, and would do anything to make that happen, within what’s right in business. But it would be foolish not to head towards the Olympic Games if you were running 100 meters, so yeah! I want to play on that field.”
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