Spider-Man 3 is considered by many to be the weakest of the three Spider-Man films directed by Sam Raimi. Why? Villain overload. Sam Raimi clearly wanted to make a movie featuring Thomas Hayden Church's Sandman, while Sony and Marvel were clearly wanting to see a film featuring fan-favorite villain, Venom. And then there was the leftover issue of James Franco's Harry Osborn to contend with. Well, according to IESB, fans who were hoping for more out of Venom can now rejoice in the fact that Venom will be getting his own movie!

In Spider-Man 3, Venom is the combination of Eddie Brock, a photographer that Peter Parker discredits, and the alien black costume that had tried to bond with Peter Parker. When Parker forces the suit off of him in an old church, the suit bonds with Brock, and the two decide to work together to destroy Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Other than the origin of the alien suit, and the specifics of how Parker destroyed Brock's career, this actually remained fairly faithful to the origin of the character from Marvel Comics.

According to IESB, the studio has met with several "A-list" writers about working on a spin-off film featuring Venom. But what this means exactly is unclear.

At one point, New Line Cinema had the theatrical rights to the character of Venom. Since that time, the rights have reverted to Marvel, but what remains unclear is how much control Sony has over the character. Marvel is now producing and controlling their characters, but the SM films were contracted before that time. Venom's status, since he appeared in Spider-Man 3, is a bit more unclear. However, it seems likely that Marvel must have control over the character if there has been progress on this script, since Marvel has an interim agreement with the WGA, yet Sony does not.

What also remains unclear would be what direction the film will go in. Will Venom remain a villainous figure? Or will he be made into an anti-hero, the way that he was portrayed in comics for most of the late 1990's? It is also uncertain which other Marvel characters would appear in the film - especially since theatrical rights to some of the most important individuals in Venom's story may be in the hands of competing studios.

Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.