Get ready for more Venom.

The word arrives from The Hollywood Reporter that the film has signed up a director to help the first sequel to the surprise Spider-Man spinoff blockbuster. Andy Serkis, best known as the motion-capture virtuoso behind The Lord of the Rings’ Gollum and Planet of the Apes’ Caesar, will direct the film.

More, via THR:

The filmmaker has closed a deal to direct Venom 2, Sony's sequel to the 2018 film that grossed $856 million at the global box office. The sequel, part of the company's stable of Spider-Man related and Marvel-centric characters, will once again star Tom Hardy as the journalist who joins with an alien symbiote.

The first Venom was directed by Ruben Fleischer, who went from the film straight into the upcoming Zombieland sequel. Serkis previously directed Mowgli, a version of The Jungle Book with motion-captured animals that premiered on Netflix. There’s no official word on the Venom 2 plot, but a post-credits scene at the end of the first Venom teased a role for Woody Harrelson as Carnage, Venom’s even nastier symbiote offspring.

The first Venom wasn’t a masterpiece, but Hardy was great in the role, both as crazy Eddie Brock and as the voice of the Venom symbiote, egging him on to further heights of derangement. “Despite the fact that I cannot recommend Venom and even hated parts of it,” I wrote in my review, “I would absolutely watch the sequel.” (You can read that here.) Looks like I will get my wish when Venom 2 arrives in theaters on October 2, 2020.

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