Andy Serkis is officially directing Venom 2. Rumors started to spread at the end of July after Serkis took some meetings with Sony about potentially taking on the sequel. Now, it looks like they liked what he had to say. This is a big gig for Serkis who is better-known for his motion capture and acting roles from over the years. However, Serkis has a lot of experience working behind the camera and got his start with Peter Jackson while working on The Hobbit trilogy as a second unit director.

2018's Venom was a huge and unexpected box office success, taking in over $856 million at the global box office. The movie was a major hit in China like a lot of comic book movies have been lately. Tom Hardy is back as Eddie Brock for Venom 2, which will reportedly begin shooting around November of this year. The studio is anxious to get moving on the project, which will more than likely have a lot of work to be done in the post-production phase like the first installment. Having Andy Serkis on board as directer will certainly provide Hardy with some extra pointers about playing a mostly CGI character.

Andy Serkis is pretty much the godfather of motion capture work after rising to fame as Gollum from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. As for directing, Venom 2 will be the third full-length project for Serkis, following 2017's Breathe and 2018's Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, which ended up premiering on Netflix. As an actor, Serkis worked with Marvel on Black Panther and this upcoming sequel may have the potential to possibly crossover like the Spider-Man franchise, bringing Serkis back to work with Marvel Studios. That's just speculation at this point, but fans would love to see Tom Holland and Tom Hardy together.

Kelly Marcel returned to write the script for Venom 2, but Ruben Fleischer, who helmed the first installment, is sitting this one out. The first movie ended with a brief cameo from Woody Harrelson who was playing Cletus Kasaday, aka Carnage. Andy Serkis previously worked with Harrelson on War For the Planet of the Apes, so there will be a bit of a reunion on the set for the two actors. Sony is keeping story details about the sequel under wraps for the time being, but we should get some more information in the coming months as production prepares to start.

Venom 2 is all set to hit theaters on October 2nd, 2020. This is going to be a huge project for Andy Serkis and it will more than likely end up with some big directing gigs down the line if all goes well. Let's just hope he doesn't forget about his groundbreaking motion capture and acting work in the meantime. The Hollywood Reporter was the first to announce the Andy Serkis and Venom 2 news.