Despite being added to please fans, Venom's treatment in Spider-Man 3 was generally very poorly received by lovers of Peter Parker's alien nemesis. Sony may be about to atone for that mis-step with the news today that the studio is developing a spin-off for the character.
Jacob Estes (Mean Creek) has already been commissioned to write a script, although The Hollywood Reporter says that Sony may decide to pass on that script and is looking at new writers. With no script in place, there's no news on which version of Venom the movie would follow. It could be Eddie Brock (played by Topher Grace in Spider-Man 3, though Grace has not been approached to reprise his role), which would require some back-pedalling given the end of of Spidey 3, or it could be one of the later characters who are overtaken by the alien symbiote. If Sony was feeling particularly daring, it could even be a woman, based on the comic book lore.
This possible movie wouldn't replace Spider-Man 4, which Sony is still hoping to release in 2011.
The question is, if you make a movie that focuses on a beloved villain, who do you pit him against? It would be enormously surprising for Sony to put Spidey in this movie and still call it a Venom film, so who should they have him battling, other than the evil within? Do you want to see a Venom movie, or would you rather see him left alone?