The Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters is continuing to expand, with a series of projects in various stages of development despite the franchise still having only released one movie to date. Of course, that film was Venom and it raked in over $850 million at the box office, but the jury remains out on Jared Leto’s Morbius, and if one of next year’s two SPUMC titles bomb, then the studio could be forced to abandon yet another Spider-Man adjacent franchise well ahead of schedule.
Cheo Hodari Coker’s Nighwatch, J.C. Chandor’s Kraven the Hunter, S.J. Clarkson’s Madame Web and Marc Guggenheim’s Jackpot have all been officially announced over the last few years, but there’s also another movie in the works from Olivia Wilde which hasn’t been confirmed as of yet. The actress’ debut feature behind the camera, Booksmart, received widespread critical acclaim and was lauded as one of the best studio comedies in years, with the 36 year-old set to reteam with writer Katie Silberman in the SPUMC.
Although we don’t know for certain what Wilde is developing, most rumors have pegged it as Spider-Woman. Alicia Vikander was named as an early contender to play the title heroine, but the latest report claims that Aubrey Plaza is the current frontrunner to suit up as Jessica Drew, and it would be fair to say that most people would be down with seeing the former Parks and Recreation star as a superhero.
Of course, this should be taken with a grain of salt because Spider-Woman technically hasn’t been given the green light yet, and there are also some tricky legal issues that would presumably need to be worked out first. Marvel own the rights to the character, but Sony hold the trademarks for any movies, so the two parties may have to reach another sharing agreement to bring the latest member of the Spider-family to the big screen.
