‘Venom’ Sequel Rehires Writer, But Its Director Ruben Fleischer May Not Return

Were you a fan of bon mots like, “On my planet, I’m a loser like you,” “You will be this armless, legless, faceless little thing, won’t you? Rolling down the street like a turd in the wind” and, this gem, “I’m Eddie Brock. I’m a reporter. I always seem to find myself questioning something the government may not be looking at. I found something really bad”? If so, you’re in luck, one of the original writers, Kelly Marcel, has been hired back to pen the sequel to “Venom.”

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“Venom,” the 2018 film, is credited to Scott Rosenberg, Jeff Pinkner, Marcel, and Will Beall (“Gangster Squad”) did some uncredited writing on the script as well. Marcel previously worked on the scripts for “Saving Mr. Banks” and “50 Shades Of Grey,” and was hired to do a last-minute polish on the screenplay just 20 days before filming began. Nevertheless, her work was significant enough to earn her a screenwriting credit.

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Marcel’s screenwriting payday is apparently rather significant according to the Variety.

News of Sony moving forward on a “Venom” sequel is no surprise. Despite bad word of mouth and poor reviews from critics, the anti-superhero film overcame the negativity and would go to be a huge smash hit in China and foreign territories, earning $855 million worldwide—higher than any of the previous Andrew Garfield-led “Spider-Man” movies (“Venom” is a “Spider-Man” spin-off, though the character hasn’t crossed over with Peter Parker yet). Domestically, “Venom” hit $213 million.

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Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams will return as their respective characters, but sources tell the trades that Ruben Fleischer may be too busy shooting the sequel to Sony’s “Zombieland 2” to return, which is perhaps less of a surprise given how poorly made “Venom” is—its success always felt like a triumph over its itself and sloppy tonality.

Sony recently dated an untitled Marvel sequel for October 2020, and it’s a good bet this slot could be reserved for “Venom 2.” [Variety]