Sony is moving forward with a sequel to Venom and has found its writer. The studio had great success in giving the fan-favorite, symbiotic Marvel anti-hero his own movie with Tom Hardy leading the way as Eddie Brock. Despite a critical lashing and no Spider-Man connections, Venom is a certified box office success.

The first film has made over $850 million worldwide at the box office and made it clear that this would not be the lone installment of the franchise. Sony previously has already been making moves to expand the Venom-verse with Jared Leto's Venom 2, and the movie is officially a go.

Related: Venom 2 Needs to Embrace The 'Symbrock' Romance

Zombieland 2.

Venom International Poster

Marcel's other credits prior to Venom are Saving Mr. Banks and Fifty Shades of Grey, while she also helped write the script for Disney's  Cruella starring Emma Stone. Her return here for the sequel should make it more likely that the second installment maintains the tone of the first film, which could be for better or worse depending on one's view of Venom.

However, there could be some room for change if Fleischer does indeed not direct the sequel. Sony clearly wants to move quickly on Venom 2, but he should only be tied up with Zombieland 2 up until this October. The first film started production and hit theaters in roughly a year time span, so it may still be possible for him to return if Venom 2 operates on a similar schedule. If he cannot return, then another director will be able to step in and continue the franchise forward with the story Marcel set up and will continue to tell.

Although this may be the first concrete piece of news about Venom 2 happening, we already have a general idea of what the movie will be about. Carnage is going to be the big villain of the film to make good on the previous installment's post-credits tease. The return of Weying could provide more symbiote madness too after she also briefly became She-Venom in the first film and could do so in a larger capacity in the sequel. Plus, there's no telling what other new characters the sequel could include or the connections it could make with other films. Either way, Venom's sequel is officially happening.

MORE: How Venom Sets Up (A Much Better) Sequel

Source: Variety