Sony Taps Big Writers to Make More Money off of Spider-Man

Sony, which controls the rights to Spider-Man, is trying to make the most with what they've got, enlisting high profile writers to write spinoff movies focusing on villains.

Sony, which controls the rights to Spider-Man, is trying to make the most with what they've got, enlisting high profile writers to write spinoff movies focusing on villains.

Sony announced yesterday that they hired Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner, Ed Solomon, and Drew Goddard to "collaborate on overseeing the developing story over several films." (The press release was leaked via the website ElectroArrives.com, according to Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter.) The press release specifies that Kurtzman, Orci, and Solomon will write Venom and Kurtzman will direct the film about the evil Symbiote alien. Goddard is going to write and probably direct The Sinister Six, focusing on the team of baddies.

We knew for a while Sony was planning something like this. And why wouldn't they? Now is as good a time as ever to build a sprawling superhero franchise, what with Marvel (basically, Disney) dominating the box office, and Warner Bros. big plans for the likes of DC superheroes like Batman and Wonder Woman. The biggest franchise for Sony, Kyle Buchanan of Vulture noted in his breakdown of studio assets, is James Bond. X-Men: Days of Future Past hasn't even hit theaters and Fox has scheduled X-Men: Apocalypse. Of course, Sony probably wishes they had more in their stable, but with Fox and Disney holding onto to other Marvel characters Spidey has interacted with in the comic books, the studio is turning to villains. "Marvel has a universe. Fox has a universe. Warner Bros has a universe. Sony has spin-offs," Devin Faraci of Badass Digest tweeted. Will it work? These writers certainly know their way around a franchise, but it's hard to say if villain-centric films can galvanize audiences.