Josh Trank, the 27-year-old phenom who directed the current found footage hit Chronicle is in talks with Sony to direct a movie featuring everybody’s favorite sticky symbiote, Venom.  Trank would be an excellent choice not just because Chronicle, which is non-comic book-based movie about teenagers with super powers, was produced for $15 million and has earned over $105 million, but also because unlike a lot of “found footage” movies (films that purport to be based solely on camcorder or security camera videos wielded or placed by the movie’s protagonists), Chronicle, which was co-written by Trank had a solid narrative.  It didn’t immediately fade into oblivion after its opening weekend like so many similar films do when audiences, who are lured in by hype, are turned off by the shaky camerawork and blurry images.

 

The character of Venom, which first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #299 in April of 1988 (the black "alien costume" first appeared in #252 in May 1984), was played on screen by Topher Grace in the third Spider-Man film in 2007.  According to the L.A. Times, Grace will definitely not return as Eddie Brock/Venom in a new Venom film. 

 

Sony was close to getting a Venom movie into production in 2009 when the studio had Gary Ross, who is now directing The Hunger Games movie, under contract to direct the film (see “Venom Movie Gets a Director”).  According to The Times, Sony is seeking a writer to work with Trank on a new script for the project.