Sony Pictures announced new sequel plans during an event at CinemaCon on Monday. Specifically, the studio has greenlit a third Venom film and another installment in the storied Ghostbusters franchise, Variety reports.
Venom 3 follows 2018’s Venom and 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage, box offices successes that raked in $856 million and $502 million at the global box office, respectively. In the Sony Universe of Marvel Characters series, Tom Hardy stars as Eddie Brock, a journalist who merges with the alien symbiote Venom. The second installment saw Andy Serkis take over the director’s chair from Ruben Fleischer, who helmed the first film, but Sony has yet to reveal a director for Venom 3.
As for Ghostbusters, the forthcoming film comes after last year’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife reunited original stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Annie Potts with new additions Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, and Paul Rudd. In the reboot, which earned $204 million globally, a family moves to a small town and discovers their connection to the ghost catchers. Jason Reitman directed the project, taking the reins from his father, original Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2 director Ivan Reitman, who passed in February of this year. Sony did not disclose whether Reitman or any of the cast from Afterlife would be returning for the upcoming film.
Spoiler warning for those who haven’t seen Afterlife: A post-credits scene sees Winston (Hudson) bringing the Ecto-1 back to the original Ghostbusters firehouse — where the containment unit appears still active. The implication seems to be that a sequel would return to the New York City setting of the original films.
The growing Venom franchise is just one of many storylines Sony is using to beef up their Marvel catalog of Spider-Man-adjacent characters… to limited success. This month’s Morbius saw Jared Leto once again tarnish the name of method acting, while in February, it was announced that Dakota Johnson will star as Madame Web in the first female-led Spider-Man universe adventure. A Kraven the Hunter film is also in the works at the studio, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Fred Hechinger set to star alongside Russell Crowe. Additionally, Sony just announced a new film centered around the obscure El Muerto, starring Bad Bunny.
