Summary
- The success of 2018’s Venom highlights the fact that three previous attempts to make a Venom movie were scrapped.
- These failed attempts at a Venom movie can be attributed to a variety of factors, including the lack of superhero movies in the past and troubled productions of other Spider-Man franchises.
- Adapting Venom to the screen has been a challenge, as evidenced by the mixed critical reception of the 2018 film and its sequel, proving the difficulty of bringing Spider-Man villains to life without Spider-Man’s presence.
2018 Poison not only was he responsible for launching Sony’s Spider-Man universe, but he was able to break a curse that had proven the failure of three previous filmmaking efforts. The film was released at the height of Marvel’s cinematic dominance by director Ruben Fleischer, but nevertheless exists as a separate continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film has since spawned a sequel and spin-off in the form of Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Morbius respectively with Madam Webb, untitled Poison 3and Kraven the Hunter all coming out as part of the upcoming 2024 Marvel movies.
As evidenced by the many releases planned by Sony, Poison it was a huge success that spawned an entire franchise. Nothing sums this up more than a 2024 release date Poison 3 which will end the trilogy while possibly leaving room for more adventures. However, the apparent success of Poison makes light of the character’s tumultuous history in terms of big-screen adaptations, with the 2018 installment breaking a two-decade-long curse that saw three other films canceled.
3 separate Venom movies were canceled before Sony’s 2018 movie
Tom Hardy’s success Poison film highlights the surprising fact that three separate attempts to make a Poison films were canned before the effort in 2018. The first failed attempt was back in the 90s, before Sam Raimi Spider Man trilogy really catapulted the comic book characters into mainstream pop culture. The film was to be written by David S. Goyer, but was shelved before the rights to Venom’s character returned to Sony Pictures by 2007. This explains the character’s appearance that year as part of Spiderman 3played by Topher Grace.
Herein lies the next attempt at a Poison movie that didn’t happen: spin-off of Spiderman 3 starring Grace as the hero. After multiple writers came and went, including Jacob Estes, the duo of Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese and Gary Ross, the film was also scrapped in favor of 2012. The Amazing Spider-Man reboot. In December 2013, six months before the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2announced Sony producer Avi Arad Poison-centric film as part of the franchise titled Venom: Carnage, directed by Alex Kurtzman. The film was then canceled in the reboot of the Spider Man within the MCU.
Why did Venom take so long to make?
As of 2018 release Poison, films centered on the character have been attempted for over 20 years, begging the question of why it’s taking so long to get made. The failure of the original project in the 1990s was probably due to the lack of superhero films in the film franchise, which only really began to flourish in the mid-2000s. Regarding the separation of Spiderman 3it’s no secret that Raimi’s third film suffered a troubled production, prompting Raimi to leave the franchise and forcing Sony to reboot in 2012.
The branches planned as part of The Amazing Spider-Man the franchise stalled when the second installment of the series did the same. Sony was disappointed by the critical and commercial reception of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, questioning any spin-off before the franchise is fully rebooted. Finally, the fact remains that adapting Venom to the screen is difficult in itself. Even the 2018 film and its sequel were poorly received by critics, proving the challenges that exist in adapting Spider-Man villains without Spider-Man. As such, the problems with adapting Venom to the cinema continue, despite 2018 Poison breaking the curse that plagued Sony Pictures’ previous efforts.