Sony is doubling down on it’s own version of the Marvel universe with the second installment to be titledSilver and Black, based on theSilver Sable and Black Cat comics. It will arrive after the first SMU movieVenom. Today, Sony has announced that they’ve secured a director for this female led superhero movie.
Gina Prince-Bythewood is officially on board to directSilver and Black. She is best known for writing and directingThe Secret Life of Bees.Matt Tolmach and Amy Pascalwill produce the movie. It will hit theaters in October 2018. Oddly enough, this is the same frame whichVenomis scheduled to launch. PerhapsThe Hollywood Reporterhas the date wrong and they meant to say 2019?
Silver and Blackis chugging along fast, and will begin shooting this fall. The movie has been in the planning stages for quite some time, going all the way back to the timeThe Amazing Spider-Man 2was in production, back in 2013.
Thor: Ragnarokwriter Chris Yost is responsible for the most recent draft of theSilver and Blackscreenplay. Co-creator of HBO’sWestworldLisa Joy is also being credited with helping to pound out the script. The story will be based on the Marvel superhero Silver Sable, which was created by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz in 1985. She is a mercenary who runs a company that goes searching for war criminals. Silver has served as both a friend and enemy to Peter Parker in the Spider-Man comics. Only, don’t expect to see her sharing the screen with Tom Holland’s Peter Parker, as this adventure takes place outside Marvel and Disney’s MCU.
Black Cat, who was originally played byRogue Onestar Felicity Jones inAmazing Spider-Man 2, is an acrobatic cat burglar by the name of Felicia Hardy. She has a storied romantic relationship with Peter, though, as mentioned, that aspect won’t be delved into at all here.
Felicity Jones only appeared as Hardy inAmazing Spider-Man 2, never suited up as Black Cat, with the intent for her to appear in future installments of that franchise. That didn’t happen, asAmazing Spider-Man 2was considered a bomb. All future franchise plans were scrapped, with Sony instead teaming up with Marvel and Disney to relaunchSpider-Man. That happens this summer withSpider-Man: Homecoming, which won’t be tied to Sony’s Marvel Universe at all.
The first SMU movie planned isVenom, which already hasTom Hardy set to play the title characterandZombielanddirector Ruben Fleischer in the driver’s seat. These two movies will have nothing to do with Peter Parker and his friends in the MCU at all.
Gina Prince-Bythewood follows a new tradition of hiring female directors for female-led projects. Patty Jenkins is leading that charge with this summer’sWonder Woman. Prince-Bythewood made a name for herself with the 2000 indieLove and Basketball. She also directed the acclaimed romantic comedyBeyond the Lightsstarring Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Nate Parker. She also co-created the crime dramaShots Fired, which currently airs on Fox. She won’t be any stranger to superheroes by the time cameras roll onSilver and Blackthough. She is directing the pilot episode for Freeform’s new Marvel seriesCloak and Dagger, which should debut next year.
