Booksmart director Olivia Wilde is set to helm and develop a secret Marvel film centered on a female hero for Sony Pictures. While Wilde has not confirmed reports of the project being a Spider-Woman film, she has now revealed that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is involved.
As Marvel Studios continues to expand its cinematic universe on film and television, Sony has begun developing its own slate of projects based on the Marvel characters the company owns the screen rights to, many of them being from the Spider-Man comics. Dubbed Sony's Universe of Marvel Characters, these projects currently include Tom Hardy's Venom and its sequel as well as the upcoming film Morbius and a developing solo movie for Kraven the Hunter. While Kevin Feige was involved in Sony's Venom, the Marvel Studios president and Sony executive Amy Pascal have had differing opinions over whether or not the latter company's films exist within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Consequently, news of Wilde's secret Marvel film prompted questions about whether or not Feige would participate in the development of the project. During an interview on the Shut Up Evan podcast, Wilde confirmed Feige's involvement when she invoked his name while trying to avoid revealing too much information on the Marvel film. "All I can say is that is by far the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me. Not only do I feel like I get to tell a story that…God, it’s like listen to me trying to avoid Kevin Feige’s pellet gun," Wilde said.
Wilde made her directorial debut with Booksmart and will reunite with the co-writer of the acclaimed comedy, Katie Silberman, to pen the script the Marvel and Sony film. "I'm just honored to be amongst this wave of women who are showing up and saying 'we are not going to step in and try and tell this story like men do, we're actually going to reframe the stories themselves," she said after expressing that being able to develop the story from the start is part of what has made the experience incredible for her.
While the jury is still out on whether or not Sony's Universe of Marvel Characters will ever intersect with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Kevin Feige's involvement in Olivia Wilde's film shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Both Marvel and Sony have been collaborating closely ever since signing the landmark deal that would allow Feige to include Spider-Man in MCU films.
Of course, the partnership has not always been an easy one, as seen during last year's dispute between both companies. While Marvel and Sony initially failed to agree on new terms to continue co-producing Spider-Man films, a deal was eventually reached to keep the wall-crawler in the MCU for the time being.
Marvel Studios' third Spider-Man film is scheduled to be released in theaters on December 17, 2021.
Source: Shut Up Evan