The search for a new director to head up the sequel to Venom has reportedly come to a close. According to a Hollywood Reporter exclusive, that director will be Andy Serkis.
Of course you already knew that, it is the headline.
Now if you're the type that seeks confirmation, here it is via Serkis' Twitter account:
Serkis will have tough shoes to fill...at least at the box office (not so much critically) as the first entry in the series brought in $856 million worldwide when it was released in October 2018. Ruben Fleischer directed the first Venom movie. The sequel is once again slated to have Tom Hardy portray the titular anti-hero.
THR says that Serkis met with some Sony head honchos in L.A. on July 22 to see if he might be what they were looking for. Not surprisingly, Serkis is said to have beaten out several unnamed filmmakers to get the job.
Venom 2 (or whatever they decide to call it) will mark Serkis' third movie as a director, following the 2017 drama Breathe, and also the 2018 non-Disney Jungle Book effort called Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, which made its way to Netflix last year.
Prior to his transition to directing, Serkis gained considerable attention for his top notch performances as motion captured characters, including Gollum in The Lord of the Rings movies, King Kongin King Kong, and Caesar in the rebooted Planet of The Apes franchise. THR adds that his experience with CG and performance capturing technology helped him secure the Venom directing role, which makes sense.
In addition to those aforementioned characters, Serkis' resume also includes his portrayal of Supreme Leader Snoke in a couple of recent Star Wars films, plus he also played Klaw in Black Panther.
As for the release date for the newest Venom, that's still on track to be October 2, 2020. Basically you got time.
