After the complete travesty that was Morbius, Sony must be desperate to compete with Marvel’s slate of upcoming titles. While we’d argue that Sony have Marvel beat as far as animated movies and shows (Spider-Verse trilogy, hello?), it’s still safe to say that Marvel is the standout in all other areas, even if the MCU as a whole has left a bad taste in people’s mouths lately. We won’t be so hasty as to chalk Morbius‘ failure up to Jared Leto, as it was certainly a team effort (or lack thereof) from Sony, but there’s some exciting movies on the way from the conglomerate, so we’ll assume that Morbius will be the bad seed of the bunch and keep our hopes up.
Honestly, nether Venom nor Let There Be Carnage were mind-blowing as far as production values and storytelling, but Tom Hardy was the saving grace for sure. That being said, there’s certainly room for improvement on Sony’s behalf. Venom was no Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, but it was no Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, either. Overall, it was largely forgettable, even if it wasn’t the worst project associated with a Marvel character (that honor might belong to Morbius).
By now you probably know that Aaron Taylor-Johnson — who portrays Scarlet Witch’s brother Quicksilver — will be appearing as one of Spider-Man‘s archenemies and a member of the Sinister Six, Kraven the Hunter, this October. But what else can we expect from Sony in the coming years?
Kraven the Hunter
Long before Sony’s interest in a standalone movie was piqued, Kraven the Hunter was considered for numerous appearances in Spider-Man properties. We have to assume that the character was planned for Spider-Man: No Way Home, but we’re not privy to the legal standings for the character, so as we found out, it didn’t happen. Intended to be the forth installment in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU), Kraven the Hunter will star Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the lead role, joined by the likes of Ariana DeBose, Russell Crowe, Fred Hechinger, Christopher Abbott, and Alessandro Nivola.
On June 19, the trailer for Kraven the Hunter leaked online, which forced Sony to prematurely unveil the official teaser poster as well as a red band trailer. The movie is scheduled to be theatrically released on Oct. 6, 2023, competing with The Exorcist remake, which releases a week later.
Madame Web
Kicking off next year’s slate of movies, director S. J. Clarkson — who signed on to spearhead the Game of Thrones prequel in 2019 and directed two episodes of The Defenders for Netflix — will be bringing Madame Web to the SSU. Fifty Shades of Grey‘s Dakota Johnson will be starring as Cassandra Webb/Madame Web, a clairvoyant with psychic abilities, allowing her to commune with the spider world.
Additionally, Sydney Sweeney will be co-starring as Julia Carpenter/Spider-Woman, while Celeste O’Connor, Isabela Merced, Tahar Rahim, Emma Roberts, Mike Epps, Adam Scott, and Zosia Mamet will appear in supporting roles. This will be Sony’s first-ever female-centric Spider-Man movie, originally slated for July 2023, the actual release date will be Feb. 16, 2024, but this is subject to change.
Untitled Venom: Let There Be Carnage sequel
In 2018, following the release of Venom, Tom Hardy revealed that he has signed on for a trilogy, then after Let There Be Carnage, Sony started the discussion for a threequel, which has yet to receive an official title. At CinemaCon in April 2022, Sony confirmed that the third installment was in development with Tom Hardy co-writing with Kelly Marcel, who penned the Fifty Shades of Grey script. Although Andy Serkis expressed interest in directing another Venom title, it seems as if the directorial duties have been passed on to Marcel. The as-yet untitled Venom project is slated to arrive in theaters in October 2024.
Other projects
According to several sources, Sony has scheduled three unspecified films to release on July 12, 2024, Nov. 8, 2024, and June 27, 2025. Although the specific projects in question have yet to be revealed, the following list is all of the projects known to be in development at Sony.
The Sinister Six
Following the success of the Sam Raimi trilogy, Sony sought to make its own The Amazing Spider-Man shared universe, which included a project focused on The Sinister Six, Spider-Man’s equivalent to Batman’s Rogues Gallery. At the time, in 2014, Drew Goddard was slated to write and direct, but by 2015, the project was presumably canceled. One of the SSU’s producers — Amy Pascal — informed us (as per Vanity Fair) that The Sinister Six movie was still on the way, they were just conversing with Goddard to get the ball rolling.
Nightwatch
In 2017, Sony was supposedly developing a movie based on the character Nightwatch from a script by Edward Ricourt with Spike Lee slated to direct. By 2018, Lee was no longer involved, despite expressing interest months prior.
Jackpot
In the same vein, Sony also considered a movie based on the character Jackpot, and were actively searching for a screenwriter. Marc Guggenheim — one of the writers who worked on the Jackpot comic books — revealed that he’d be writing the screenplay for Jackpot in May 2020, but by that point, the project seemed to be running on empty as it had been stuck in development hell for two years.
El Muerto
It seemed that Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny caught the eye of Sony executives with his performance as The Wolf, a Mexican assassin, as they expressed interest in having him star in a high-profile project. At CinemaCon in April 2022, Bad Bunny made a “surprise appearance” to announce the film, which was given a scheduled release date of Jan. 12, 2024. By March 2023, Time had confirmed that El Muerto had yet to enter production, as per Bad Bunny’s own words. Due to both Bad Bunny’s conflicting touring schedule and the 2023 Writers’ Guild of America strike, the movie was removed from Sony’s June 2023 slate, and that’s the last we’ve heard.
Untitled Roberto Orci project
As per The Wrap, in March 2020, Sony had hired The Amazing Spider-Man 2 co-writer Roberto Orci to write the script for an untitled Marvel film that would be set in Sony’s shared universe. Allegedly, the plot would be based on a property from a “different corner of the Marvel universe that Sony has access to” rather than specifically a character from Spider-Man’s history.
Untitled Olivia Wilde project
Likewise, in August 2020, Olivia Wilde (courtesy of Deadline) signed on to develop and direct a female-centric Marvel film for Sony with her writing partner Katie Silberman. The project was believed to feature Spider-Woman and had been high on Sony’s priority list for years, but apparently not as high as Madame Web.
Untitled Hypno-Hustler film
Similar to the Nightwatch and Jackpot projects, Sony had been developing a film centered on the character Hypno-Hustler, with Donald Glover set to star and produce, and Myles Murphy to write. You might recognize Glover from another prominent role in the Spider-Man universe, namely that of Aaron Davis in Spider-Man: Homecoming. He even makes a live-action cameo appearance in the animated Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse as a version of Aaron Davis/Prowler. Sony seemed to pump the brakes on the project after attaching certain talent, as it hasn’t been discussed since.