Venom is heading to the big screen. Spider-Man’s nemesis, sharp of fang, flexible of morals, will get his own adventure, Sony said on Thursday. The spin-off film will swing into theaters on Oct. 5, 2018. Venom is a favorite of comic fans; the alien has long terrorized the web-slinging hero.
To make room, Sony will move “The Girl in the Spider’s Web,” Fede Alvarez’s “Dragon Tattoo” reboot from Oct. 5 to Oct. 19. It will face off against “Jungle Book: Origins,” Warner Bros.’ take on the Rudyard Kipling stories, and an untitled film from Blumhouse, the low-budget horror purveyor behind “The Purge” and “Get Out.”
The release shuffle took place hours after Warner Bros. moved “Aquaman” from its Oct. 5 to Dec. 21, 2018. The studio was filling a holiday season hole left by “Avatar 2’s” delays.
David Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” made $232.6 million globally, but was a financial disappointment given its $90 million budget and millions more spent on advertising. Alvarez, who scored with last year’s “Don’t Breathe,” is re-casting the lead roles of super sleuth Lisbeth Salander and crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist, previously played by Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig.
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The studio is also sprucing up its Spider-Man films. “Spider-Man: Homecoming” will debut this summer, with Tom Holland taking over the web-spinner role from Andrew Garfield. The idea is to focus on a more youthful Spidey as he tries to balance saving the world with being a high-schooler. Sony has long harbored ambitions to better exploit the universe of Spider-Man characters that it licenses from Marvel Comics. At one point, the studio wanted to make a standalone Sinister Six film, focused on assorted Spider-Man villains, but that plan was shelved after “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” failed to be a global blockbuster, sending Sony back to the drawing board.
Scott Rosenberg (“Jumanji”) and Jeff Pinkner (“The Dark Tower”) will write the script for the Venom film, with Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach producing the picture.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Dante Harper will write the Venom script.
