Sony announces Venom 3 and El Muerto, a Spider-Man spinoff starring Bad Bunny

Opening the film industry gathering CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Monday, Sony announced that it would be releasing a film based on the Marvel character El Muerto, starring the rapper Bad Bunny (also known as Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) in the title role. As reported by Variety, El Muerto will be released on Jan. 12, 2024.

Additionally, according to Deadline, the studio confirmed that a third Venom film was on the way with a teaser, though nothing was revealed for it beyond a Venom 3 logo.

El Muerto is a superpowered wrestler who gains his immense strength from his mask. Appearing on stage at CinemaCon, Bad Bunny said he had grown up as a wrestling fan, and that it was “so exciting” to bring the character to life.

Sony appears determined to press ahead with the cinematic universe of Marvel characters granted to the studio by its Spider-Man film rights, which it’s calling Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, or SSU. As well as the two already released Venom films and the recent Morbius, the studio has Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter in production, both slated for release in 2023. Meanwhile, Morbius’ post-credits scenes appeared to suggest that a film about the supervillain team The Sinister Six is on the way.

In further film franchise news that will come as a surprise to no one, Deadline reports that Sony also confirmed it was developing a fifth Ghostbusters film, after the success of Jason Reitman’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife last year. No date or talent was announced for the new movie.

In his closing comments at CinemaCon, Sony studio bigwig Tom Rothman said that “we very much do not believe the common wisdom that the future is only [superheroes] and sequels ... during the coming months we will also show that new and original stories can also work.” But clearly, having a few superheroes and sequels in your back pocket doesn’t hurt.