Sony Pictures is mapping-out their own cinematic universe featuring the multiple heroes and villains they’re able to give feature films and television shows to thanks to owning the Spider-Man rights. It’s become increasingly confusing what their ultimate plan is going to be with the various spinoff films as the original Venom was rumored to include a cameo from Tom Holland but that never happened and fans have been sort of kept in the dark officially about other Sony/Marvel projects too.
While we might eventually see Holland start to appear in these movies at some point, new quotes from Sony Picture Motion Pictures Group President Sandford Panitch during an interview with Variety gives us the impression that they studio hopes their spinoff films don’t even need Spider-Man to hook audiences.
Sanford Panitch is quick to point out that Sony Pictures doesn’t see their cinematic universe as a “Spider-Verse,” but actually their own Marvel universe while alluding to these projects holding their own without the iconic superhero. This is highlighted when Panitch admits that Tom Holland’s Spider-Man won’t be appearing with Tom Hardy’s Venom in the upcoming sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage. But also teased the two characters may meet up, eventually.
PANITCH: “We don’t really think of our 900 characters as the Spidey-verse. We have a Marvel universe. The volume of characters we have — you know, wait until you see this next Venom. You don’t miss Spider-Man…It’ll be exciting if they do meet, right?”
This sentiment was recently echoed not too long ago by Venom 2’s director Andy Serkis while speaking with IGN about the first-look trailer. Serkis mentioning that these the characters in the Venom sequel aren’t aware of Spider-Man and “treating this very much as it’s own world.”
SERKIS: “Obviously, there are links between Venom and Spider-Man in the Marvel Universe and the Spider-Man story, but in this, we’re treating this very much as it’s his own world, the Venom story is his own world. There are nods and little moments just like this, the newspaper Daily Bugle, of course, but on the whole, he’s unaware, they’re unaware, at this point of other characters like Spider-Man. So that’s the way we’ve chosen to play this particular episode of the movie but well, we’ll wait and see, what little things you can pick out of it.”
The original Venom, earned a massive $856 million at the global box office without Spider-Man, so it’s possible the studio believes other films could replicate this success on their own.
VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE – Tom Hardy returns to the big screen as the lethal protector Venom, one of MARVEL’s greatest and most complex characters. Directed by Andy Serkis, the film also stars Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris and Woody Harrelson, in the role of the villain Cletus Kasady/Carnage.
In a trailer breakdown video from Venom: Let There Be Carnage director Andy Serkis posted by IGN, the filmmaker confirmed that the film takes place in it’s own world and that Stephen Graham plays an a police offer named Mulligan, who is most likely Patrick Mulligan the host of the symbiote known as Toxin.
SERKIS: “Obviously, there are links between Venom and Spider-Man in the Marvel Universe and the Spider-Man story, but in this, we’re treating this very much as it’s his own world, the Venom story is his own world. There are nods and little moments just like this, the newspaper Daily Bugle, of course, but on the whole, he’s unaware, they’re unaware, at this point of other characters like Spider-Man. So that’s the way we’ve chosen to play this particular episode of the movie but well, we’ll wait and see, what little things you can pick out of it.”
There is a strong possibility that Stephen Graham’s Mulligan could become Toxin leading to a new villain for Venom 3, the Netflix/Sony deal recently inadvertently confirmed plans for a third movie. However, Sony Pictures has yet to officially announce they have a script or even a director for it.
Stephen Graham is notorious for play gritty characters with credits such as Snatch, Boardwalk Empire, and The Irishman. It doesn’t hurt he co-starred with Tom Hardy on his series Taboo, which likely means working together on multiple films could be fun for the two friends.
I’m still curious if they’ll attempt to combine Naomie Harris’ Shriek with the symbiote Scream given the slight overlap or have someone else as the human host. The comic storyline Separation Anxiety would make for a good final movie.
Today, is finally the day that Sony Pictures has dropped the first-look trailer for Venom: Let There Be Carnage giving fans a glimpse at Marvel supervillain Carnage (played by Woody Harrelson), the spawn of the alien symbiote known as Venom, and his partner Shriek (played by Naomie Harris). The film is the sequel to the Spider-Man spinoff that is part of the Sony/Marvel universe and remains to be seen if will directly connect to the MCU or not.
It’s directed by Andy Serkis, who worked as the second unit director on Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy.
The trailer confirms a previous scoop I posted at HN Entertainment last year while they were still shooting.
VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE – Tom Hardy returns to the big screen as the lethal protector Venom, one of MARVEL’s greatest and most complex characters. Directed by Andy Serkis, the film also stars Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris and Woody Harrelson, in the role of the villain Cletus Kasady/Carnage.
Interestingly enough, Tom Hardy broke the film’s story with screenwriter Kelly Marcel as the actor has landed a story credit on the film, according to the studio.
The sequel is part of Sony Pictures big plans for their own cinematic universe with Morbius coming in January alongside other films in development such as director J.C. Chandor’s Kraven The Hunter, Olivia Wilde’s rumored Spider-Woman movie, a Madame Web film, a Jackpot film, a Nightwatch film, a Black Cat film, and a Silver Sable film. However, it’s perplexing to see Michael Keaton’s Vulture appear in the Morbius trailer, when it hasn’t been confirmed if other Sony movies will take place directly within the Marvel Cinematic Universe just like with the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies made by Marvel Studios.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage is expected to be released in theaters on September 24, 2021.
Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman Tony Vinciquerra recently spoke with The Wrap about the current atmosphere of releasing massive blockbusters during the pandemic and with the theater reopenings and suggested they’re not convinced about releasing their expensive movies too soon.
VINCIQUERRA: “What we won’t do is make the mistake of putting a very, very expensive $200 million movie out in the market unless we’re sure that theaters are open and operating at significant capacity.”
They seem to be specifically speaking out about Tenet’s disastrous domestic debut given that Warner Bros. film cost them $200+ million, but had only managed to make $9.4 million on opening weekend and another $6.7 million in the second weekend. That studio believed the turnout of audiences would be greater because they were offering a massive movie to the masses and that thinking backfired.
It is worth noting that Sony Pictures was one of the first studios to pull their big tentpoles out of the summer lineup and pushing them to 2021.
I’m curious what this means for March movies like Morbius and Ghostbusters: Afterlife along with other big films such as Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Uncharted, and Spider-Man 3.
Also, what does it being “safe” look like? Waiting until a vaccine for COVID-19 is in circulation?
Here is the rundown of Sony’s 2021 live-action blockbuster schedule but I wouldn’t count on these dates sticking.
This week’s roundup is mostly female-centric and some interesting characters might be heading to the MCU.
Salma Hayek Teasing Reshoots On The Way For ‘Eternals’
Eternals actress Salma Hayek, who plays the team’s leader Ajak, has seemingly revealed on Instagram that the film is returning for reshoots very shortly.
HAYEK: “In anticipation for reshoots, I finally had to do my roots.”
The film had been mainly shooting at Pinewood Studios UK under the working title Sack Lunch and will be getting pick-ups/reshoots like with every other MCU movie. Where the Eternals reshoots will take place is a little unclear as Georgia and California tend to be where reshoots normally happen, which might be tough considering the United States is seeing a steep rise in new coronavirus cases.
However, the United Kingdom reportedly will be reopening productions next month starting with Universal’s Jurassic World: Dominion at Pinewood.
Eternals recently saw it’s release date bumped from November 6th to February 12th, 2021. Hopefully, it’s able to stick to that date and it isn’t further delayed.
J.K. Simmons Confirms He Filmed His Next Appearance As J. Jonah Jameson and Expects To Do Another One Soon
As Spider-Man 3’s production start is a bit of a question mark, actor J.K. Simmons has revealed he has filmed his next appearance as the Spider-Man character during an interview on SirusXM.
SIMMONS: “There is one more JJJ apparence in the can and from what I’m hearing there is a plan for yet another one. Hopefully, JJJ will continue now and forever.”
This would suggest he’s either showing up in Morbius or Venom 2 aka Venom: Let There Be Carnage, there had been some teases that this would be happening and Jameson might be the glue that connects all the Sony/Marvel films. The latter part would likely mean he’s coming back for Spider-Man 3, which has been assumed since the cliffhanger ending of Spider-Man: Far From Home.
When Spider-Man 3 will begin shoot isn’t concrete at the moment as it originally was going to shoot over the summer once Tom Holland wrapped on Sony’s Uncharted film.
Amanda Seyfried Passed On Gamora Role In ‘Guardians of The Galaxy’ Over The Extensive Makeup
While speaking with Comic Book, actress Amanda Seyfried revealed that the makeup was a huge reason why she passed on the Gamora role in James Gunn’s Guardians of The Galaxy, citing Jennifer Lawrence’s experience playing Mystique in X-Men: First Class.
SEYFRIED: “I think about it often [laughs]. I’m not really a Marvel movie watcher, which is, I think, why I was just like, ‘Ah, I don’t wanna be green. It’s just so much work.’ I remember Jennifer Lawrence talking about once, how long it took her to get blue. And I was like, ‘That seems like hell on earth,’ because then you get to set and you’re only there for a couple hours, and then you have to take everything off. And that was literally the reason.”
Zoe Saldana ended up in the role and is expected to reprise Gamora once again in Guardians of The Galaxy 3.
‘Loki’ Actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw Comments On The Disney+ Series
British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw took some time to speak with Variety on their podcast The Big Ticket and gave some interesting insight to both director Kate Herron and co-star Tom Hiddleston.
MBATHA-RAW: “I feel like even though you’re dealing with this big universe, [Kate Herron] still makes it feel very intimate. She just brings it back down to character and moments and emotions.”
“Obviously, it’s a big part of our culture, so I had a huge awareness of it and it’s funny because I actually went to drama school at the same time as Tom Hiddleston. Ten years ago when I first came out here to do a TV pilot, ‘Under Covers,’ he was shooting the first ‘Thor’ at the same time. I remember him telling me about this experience of this new movie that he was doing.”
Loki paused production months back in Atlanta, Georgia when the pandemic forced the shutdown. There has been speculation that filming might resume next month but that has yet to be made official and might not be ready to begin airing on Disney+ until sometime in 2021.
Marvel Rumored To Be Considering Adding Echo, Firestar, and Lucia Von Bardas To The MCU
A handful of rumors concerning a trio of female characters that Marvel Studios wants to introduce to the Marvel Cinematic Universe had been making the rounds over the last week. As with all rumors take these a pinch of salt since where these ladies might show up isn’t being mentioned.
MARIA LOPEZ AKA ECHO (via Murphy’s Multiverse): Charles Murphy is making an excellent assumption based on a recent casting call from casting director Sarah Finn. However, admittedly wasn’t able to say definitely where she might show up and even mentioned this may be a casting call related to a Star Wars series as Finn is also tackling that franchise.
ANGELICA JONES AKA FIRESTAR (via Daniel Richtman): While the character is best known from the animated series Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends, the character being a mutant means she is secured under the Marvel Studios rights umbrella and not Sony. There are already rumblings that mutant Takeshi Matsuya aka Whiz Kid (a fellow mutant) could be showing up in Shang-Chi. Daniel is unsure where Jones might show up despite her connections to Spider-Man.
LUCIA VON BARDAS (via MCU Cosmic): This one implies that Marvel is already working on introducing Latveria as Lucia von Bardas is from the fictional nation that is led by Fantastic Four supervillain Doctor Doom, she becomes the Prime Minister of Latveria. While there had been rumblings in the past that a new Fantastic Four film was in development stages and on the cusp of an announcement, that seemed to be premature or simply false. Noah Hawley had been recently speaking with Marvel about his solo Doctor Doom movie that he was originally developing for 20th Century Fox before the merger. As with the other two rumors, Jeremy isn’t ready to proclaim or even guess where Lucia will first appear.
THE RONIN 