Sony is still trying to build out its Marvel / Spider-Man theatrical franchise, and has reportedly brought on S.J. Clarkson to direct a “female-centric” film within the franchise, according to Variety.
Variety notes that there’s little information about the project as of yet: no word on what the characters will be—although it reports that sources say that it could be based on Madame Web—and that there isn’t a writer or actor attached as of yet.
While Marvel Studios has taken the lead with its characters—and the two studios share custody of Spider-Man himself—Sony still holds the rights to a large number of characters in Spider-Man’s orbit, and has been working to build out its own interconnected franchise for them. In 2018, the studio released Venom, starring Tom Hardy, and plans for a sequel in 2021, Venom: Let There Be Carnage. The studio also plans to release Morbius in February 2021 (moved from its original July 30th, 2020 release date).
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Along the way, it’s developed films based on Nightwatch, Kraven the Hunter, The Sinister Six, Madame Web, as well as a handful of others. The studio is also working on a sequel and spinoffs to its 2018 film Into the Spider-Verse, which utilized a multiverse concept. The studio was also working on Silver & Black, which would have seen Silver Sable and Black Cat team up, with Gina Prince-Bythewood (Beyond the Lights) set to direct, but that project has since been canceled. However, it seems as though it’s been resurrected for a television project.
Clearly, there’s a lot of potential for Clarkson to jump into here: Sony holds a ton of characters, and while it hasn’t yet had Marvel’s success with an overarching cinematic universe, it’s still a dream worth chasing. Clarkson, for her part, has a long track record with television projects (She directed the BBC’s Life on Mars, NBC’s Heroes, Netflix’s Jessica Jones and The Defenders, and others), and had worked on a high-profile Game of Thrones prequel that was ultimately axed, and had signed on to direct Star Trek 4, although she eventually left that project.
