Seeing as Spider-Man 4 is perpetually in development and/or just! about! to shoot!, now seems as good a time as any to give the film's resident script doctor Gary Ross something else to do. Sony has reportedly tossed the franchise's long-rumored Venom spin-off Ross's way, entrusting the Pleasantville and Seabiscuit director with his own mega-budget tentpole while the studio likely regroups without Raimi. And one minor change: Don't look for Topher Grace to reprise his role.
While there's literally nothing to know presently beyond Sony's interest in Ross, it's a fairly safe bet that the studio will go outside Spider-Man for a younger semi-star to structure sequels around; you can never be too safe when it comes to franchise building. (And anyway, Grace already has a Fox reboot to keep him busy.)
There's also the little matter of how to build said franchise around a character who, at best, amounts to an anti-hero -- a/k/a Peter Parker's archnemesis Eddie Brock. Batman Begins scribe David S. Goyer sketched it out with Venom a few years ago, and the only official draft was submitted recently by Zombieland writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese. There's no word yet on whether or not Ross would add to or completely dispatch those takes for his own, but as always, developing...
ยท Ross to Helm Venom [BFDealMemo]