Spider-Man spinoffs still on without Marvel's help

With the news of the agreement between Sony and Marvel regarding Spider-Man, there were some questions regarding the upcoming spinoff films Sony already has given the green light to. We learned today that Sinister Six and Venom are indeed still moving forward and they will not require the assistance of Marvel and Kevin Feige.

There is no confirmation on whether Alex Kurtzman and Drew Goddard are still attached to their respective films, but the fact that Sony managed to hang out to these projects is pretty surprising. With that said, I would assume that Kurtzman and Goddard are going to stay in the picture. Without the involvement of Kevin Feige, who will co-produce the next solo Spidey film, Sony seems to want to try and prove once again that they can create a successful interconnected universe.
One thing to remember is now that Spider-Man can appear in Marvel films, that means Marvel characters can appear in the Sony films. This does open a possibility of introducing Marvel cameos into Venom and/or Sinister Six. Goddard does have some experience dealing with Marvel as he was originally attached to the Daredevil series set to premiere on Netflix, but he departed due to his commitments to Sinister Six. 

With the announced agreement between the studios last night it was also confirmed that previously announced Sony versions of The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 4 have been officially canceled. Sony had already delayed the projects by a year but with Marvel stepping in they have opted to restart with a new Spider-Man film in 2017. This all was kickstarted by the complete failure that was The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Many fans called for yet another reboot of the character with new villains and a new Peter Parker and it looks like they are getting their wish as Marvel is hoping to cast a younger actor to portray Spidey. Sorry, Andrew Garfield.

Alex Kurtzman to direct Mummy reboot

Universal has hired director Alex Kurtzman to direct their upcoming reboot of The Mummy. This comes after Kurtzman was hired alongside Chris Morgan to lead the new Universal Monsters crossover series. He is now the third director to be given the job. Previously Andy Muschietti and Len Wiseman had been hired but both left the project after a short period of time.

This reboot has a 2016 release date set so it would be in Universal's best interest to get this project going. Kurtzman is best known for his screenwriting partnership with Roberto Orci where they wrote blockbuster films such as Transformers, Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. This will be his first project without Orci.
All that we know about this new interpretation of The Mummy is it will be set in the present day and will be an action-adventure type film. However, it will not be a direct reboot of the films that starred Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. There will be new plot points and new characters.

In addition to The Mummy, Kurtzman has been hired by Sony to direct Venom, an upcoming Spider-Man spinoff. However, with the recent disappointment with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and The Amazing Spider-Man 3 being delayed until 2018 the fate of Venom is kind of in limbo. No one really knows if it's even going to happen anymore.

Roberto Orci in talks to direct Star Trek 3

After J.J. Abrams took his leave from Star Trek and moved over to Star Wars, there has been a lot of curiosity regarding who would take over directing for the third installment of Star Trek. It was previously rumored that Joe Cornish would direct, but he backed out because he didn't want to step into a franchise that was already well developed. It now seems that writer Roberto Orci will take over.

Orci has already written the screenplays for and produced Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness so he is no stranger to this franchise. If the negotiations are completed, the third Star Trek will serve as Orci's directorial debut. His inexperience isn't much to worry about as he has been part of several big budget and high anticipation films such as Transformers, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Ender's Game, and Cowboys & Aliens.
However, Orci's intentions could cause issues. He is pretty notorious for catering his scripts and screenplays to meet studio blockbuster expectations. We can all agree what disasters Transformers, Cowboys & Aliens, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 were. His scripts are meant to appeal to just about everyone so they often come across as widespread and with little substance. Yes, Orci wrote the first two Star Trek films but he also had J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof to even the balance and direct the script where they wanted it to go.

This comes after Orci ended his longstanding partnership with Alex Kurtzman so they could both explore directorial options. Orci is now partnered with JD Payne and Patrick McKay who are currently writing Star Trek 3 with him and Kurtzman is attached to direct Sony's Spider-Man spinoff, Venom.