Looks like slightly underwhleming box office returns for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 weren’t enough to kill Sony’s plans to build an expansive superhero universe. The studio has dated The Sinister Six, a movie that features an all-star lineup of Spider-Man villains, for release on November 11th, 2016. As part of the new release date, The Amazing Spider-Man 3 has been bumped from its June 10th, 2016 slot by two years to May 4th, 2018.
Drew Goddard apparently delivered a take on the Sinister Six project that greatly excited execs at Sony. The Cabin in the Woods helmer is set to write and direct the spinoff, which currently has “a rough script.” Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group’s Doug Belgrad said:
“With Sinister Six in the hands of writer-director Drew Goddard, we feel extremely confident placing the film on a prime date in 2016.”
It’s still unknown which villains will feature into the Sinister Six’s lineup for its first big-screen incarnation. A strong bet is Dane DeHaan’s Green Goblin, heavily featured in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Paul Giamatti’s Rhino also makes sense, seeing as he was introduced in the superhero sequel’s last scene. Outside of that, Rhys Ifans’ Lizard could return, as could Jamie Foxx’s Electro (did you really think a power overload would kill a villain who thrives on massive amounts of power?). Other significant possibilities include Doctor Octopus and Vulture, seeing as the former’s mechanical tentacles and the latter’s high-tech wings appeared in the background of one scene in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
We previously heard rumblings that Sony might be pulling the plug on Sinister Six after The Amazing Spider-Man 2 failed to outgross any previous installment featuring the webcrawler. In fact, some sites reported that the project was already dead. As it turns out, Sinister Six is still alive and kicking. We’ll see it in 2016 – but how do you feel about this news? Is it too soon for Sony to be spinning off the Amazing Spider-Man franchise, or will the change of focus be a good thing for the series?