We already knew Sony had plans for a Venom movie, and now the studio has unveiled a release date. Seemingly out of the blue, Sony on Thursday announced the film will be released on October 5, 2018, with director Alex Kurtzman at the helm.

Sony has had a Venom movie in its plan for as long we can remember, but the studio hasn't been able to move forward with those plans. We saw the character have a rather unmemorable appearance in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3, but haven't seen him since.

Venom's upcoming turn will be unrelated to the Spider-Man film starring Tom Holland, though it's unclear if Spidey will have a possible cameo. With Marvel and Sony sharing Spider-Man's rights, you have to imagine a deal would be pretty tricky, especially with Spidey now appearing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Venom is typically seen as a villain though he has had turns as an anti-hero. However, it wouldn't really be fitting to see him fight crime in a standalone movie. So how, exactly, is Sony going to tackle this project?

October 2018 isn't that far away

In movie time, an October 2018 isn't that far away. Since a hard date has been set, filming will likely take place later this summer or early fall, which means we should see casting announcements in the near future.

It will be very interesting to see how this whole thing shakes out, especially with Tom Holland's Spider-Man kicking around. Hopefully, Sony shares more details about the project soon.