Just hours after a fan theory surfaced suggesting that upcoming sci-fi thriller Life is actually a Venom origin story, Sony Pictures has set a release date for their Spider-Man spin-off. The movie will hit theaters October 5, 2018, the same date that Aquaman just vacated hours ago. The studio also pushing The Girl in the Spider's Web from October 5, 2018 to October 19, 2018. Sony also announced that Alex Kurtzman will direct the Venom standalone movie.

The news comes from ERC Box Office's Twitter, which arrives just a few weeks after we reported that this Venom movie was getting back on track, with Dante Harper (Edge of Tomorrow, Alien: Covenant) writing the script. That report revealed the project will have no connection to Spider-Man: Homecoming, with the studio hoping to launch their own Spider-Verse franchise after this movie comes out. Alex Kurtzman's involvement is not terribly surprising, since he was originally set to direct Venom before Sony rebooted Spider-Man alongside Marvel.

After The Amazing Spider-Man 2 came out in 2014, Sony was developing The Sinister Six and Venom spin-offs, with Drew Goddard attached to The Sinister Six and Alex Kurtzman attached to Venom. Both of those projects stalled, as did a sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man 2, with the studio eventually announcing its deal with Marvel, which finally brought Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a shared rights deal. While the studios focused on casting the new Spidey, with the role eventually going to Tom Holland, the spin-offs floundered, although there was talk they could re-surface again.

A few months ago, Sony Pictures' Tom Rothman teased that there will be "real news" about the Spider-Man spin-offs soon, as opposed to the usual speculation. These spin-offs will not be connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe at all, but even though Venom is moving forward, it isn't clear yet if The Sinister Six will be another one of these new spin-offs, or of the studio will be developing new characters for these spin-offs. There was a report from last year, however, that claimed The Sinister Six spin-off will actually be produced at Marvel Studios, instead of Sony Pictures, but that hasn't been confirmed.

The Venom character was created in 1988 by David Micheline, with artwork provided by Todd McFarlane and Mike Zeck. Venom is an alien symbiote that needs a human host to survive, which provides the human with incredible powers. The character was originally conceived as a villain, but he became an anti-hero and almost a bona fide good guy in a lengthy stretch of the comics. The current Marvel Comics portray Eddie Brock/Venom as a villain who has teamed up with Flash Thompson, Peter Parker's old high school nemesis who now works as a government agent. Alex Kurtzman made his directorial debut with the 2012 drama People Like Us, which he will follow up this summer with Universal's The Mummy reboot. Take a look at these tweets from ERC Box Office which reveals the Venom release date and director.