There has been a lot of attention on Marvel Studios' release schedule in the last week since Disney announced that a number of upcoming movies would be sliding back by a few months, but today attention turned to the Sony Universe of Marvel Characters as they added twoMarvelprojects to their 2023 slate. There is a lot to potentially get excited about by this news, as we have seen recently that Sony and Marvel Studios are now closer than ever to each other thanks to the events ofVenom: Let There Be Carnagebridging the gap between Sony’s cast of characters and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So the question now is, who will be filling these new slots?
Over the last few years, Sony has been expanding their Marvel presence, and after months of speculation, rumors and suggestive comments from both Sony boss Sanford Panitch and Marvel Studios mastermind Kevin Feige, Tom Hardy’s Venom was seemingly dragged into the world occupied by Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and the long promised connection between the two was delivered. Until today, there were two Marvel based movies already lined up on Sony’s slate;Morbiusstarring Jared Leto releasing in January 2022, andKraven the Hunter starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, returning to a Marvel role following his appearance as Quicksilver inAvengers: Age of Ultron, which is slated for release in January 2023.
The new slots opened up by Sony today are untitled projects due to arrive on June 23rd, 2023, and October 6th, 2023, and of course there is no telling when Sony will divulge exactly which movies it has planned to fill these release dates. Therefore, let the speculation begin.
First off, there are two obvious candidates that could sit nicely in these dates, which would be either a newSpider-Manmovie ora third Venom installment. The first slot of June 23rd sits right in the summer blockbuster area, suggesting that whatever takes that slot is a movie that is going to be able to compete with some big hitters. In relation to the MCU’s updated release schedule, this movie is going to sit betweenGuardians of The Galaxy Vol.3andAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and although they are not expected to have any connection to what is going on in theMCUat that time, Sony are again going to want something that can compete with these titles in scale and hype.
PreviouslyVenom: Let There Be Carnagedirector Andy Serkis teased that there will be a meeting between Spider-Man and Venom, but not for a little while. Could two years be considered a little while in cinema terms or are Sony heading for their own ambitious endgame of thatrumored Sinister Six movie, and would it involve the arrival of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man as is now pretty much expected. Speaking aboutSpider-Man: No Way Home, Holland said that the movie felt like “the final chapter in a franchise”, which would then suggest that the next chapter would lie in Sony’s universe of Spider-Man characters.
It also shouldn’t be forgotten that Sony has previously announced films based on Jackpot and Madame Webb to come, and while one of these could potentially sit in either slot, neither of them seem like they have the potential to be an all-out summer hit and with theVenomsequel doing well this month, Sony is probably going to want to capitalize on that as soon as possible meaning thatVenom 3could well be taking the October 2023 spot. Tom Hardy’s symbiote is said to make an appearance inMorbius, along withMichael Keaton returningin hisSpider-Man: Homecomingrole of the Vulture, which in theory could all set up the nextVenomfilm for the following year.
However it plays out, it is clear that Sony is now preparing to push out their Marvel movies with the same kind of regularity as Marvel Studios have been doing since around 2015. While there doesn’t seem to be any sign of the so called “Marvel fatigue” kicking in just yet, the question of whether audiences really want to see a new Marvel based film arriving almost every month, as well as the TV projects also heading to Disney+, is a one we are getting closer to finding out an answer to.
