Hutch Parker has been working on the
X-Men franchise since
X2: X-Men United and he's become a frequent collaborator of Simon Kinberg's on movies like
X-Men: Days of Future Past, 2015's
Fantastic Four reboot,
Logan, and
Dark Phoenix. However, now that Marvel Studios has regained the rights to those characters, he's out of a job in the
X-Men Universe!
Well, it appears Sony Pictures didn't waste any time adding him to their ranks, because it's now been revealed that he's signed up to produce
Venom 2 (which is set to be directed by Andy Serkis).
He now joins fellow producers Amy Pascal, Matt Tolmach, and Avi Arad, and The Hollywood Reporter reveals that shooting is expected to start in mid-November. They also reveal that as well as Tom Hardy,
Venom stars Michelle Williams, Reid Scott, and Woody Harrelson are all set to return.
How do you guys feel about this news? Is it a good or bad thing for the
Venom franchise?
Hit the "View List" button to check out some concept art from
Venom (including a battle between Eddie Brock and Carnage).
As you can see, Venom has no chest symbol here and looks a lot like the Ultimate version of the character as a result. Still, something is definitely better than nothing, as you'll see below.
Venom has a chest logo here and it looks a lot like the one from the comics. Unfortunately, Sony decided not to include that, presumably because this version of Venom hasn't met Spider-Man.
This is a very extreme take on Venom, but he looks awesome and it would be great to see the Symbiote evolve into this monstrous form in the sequel, especially when he faces off with Carnage!
These designs should definitely remind you of the comic books, as Venom is sporting more of a blue hue. Artist Matt Millard did a great job of imagining how the character could look on screen.
"One of my first task on this movie was to infuse some life in the Character, play around with Venom and make a series of quick studies showing him not as a 3D model but as a creature with a distinct personality (there is a sort of grotesque joyfulness in the character I really love, especially in the Lethal Protector comics)," concept artist Paolo Giandoso says about these pieces.
"Then I was asked to design ways for the Symbiote to slither over Eddie's face and create Venom," he continues.
"In my mind, the symbiote, being a shapeshifter, can potentially grow teeth, gums, eyes and tongues wherever it wants over his surface. All its matter has the potential to become these sort of features.
"It just chooses to create them on the face to arrange them in a way is more functional for a bipedal host. I wanted to give the idea of these features emerging and rearranging, lines of teeth moving and sliding around until they compose the final shape we all know." It's a shame we didn't see more of that green slime, eh?
So, yeah, that looks a lot like Carnage, right?
"I was tasked with concepting the whole symbiote final fight, mechanics and all, the way the Venom and his evil counterpart clash together and merge, until the final sacrifice scene after the rocket explosion," Giandoso explains. With that in mind, common sense says that Carnage was probably used as just a stand-in here.
"These images are a small section of a deleted scene from the beginning of the third act, in which Eddie confront his buddy about his hypocrisy and they finally make peace and move on to save the world," Giandoso notes. It would have been really cool to see this before the final battle but it arguably wasn't needed as these two managed to make amends in a somewhat simpler exchange.
Many thanks to artists David Masson, Matt Millard, and Paolo Giandoso.