by: keaton marcus

Andy Serkis, chosen to direct “Venom 2”, released 2020.

UPDATE:

Andy Serkis, known for the performing in “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” trilogies, and directing “Jungle Book” reboot “Mowgli” has been chosen for directing “Venom 2”. The release is scheduled for October 2nd, 2020.

With “Venom 2” announced months ago, the sequel to the hit film has finally got its line of directors racing to helm the anti-hero picture. These three filmmakers have directed some good films, and this will possibly increase the chance of a better score on the Lemonradar, especially considering what the original film received, directed by Ruben Fleischer (“Zombieland”). Andy Serkis, Rupert Wyatt, and Travis Knight are in the race for directing this anticipated film, all have worked for CGI-driven productions. The most likely right now seems to be Mr. Serkis who is both an acclaimed voice-actor and wonderful director, but who knows, one of our other two candidates might duke it out for the win.

Andy Serkis, 55, voice-actor and director.

The filmmaker is known best for acting in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, as well as the three films for “The Hobbit” franchise. The two franchises mentioned are his biggest films, and hold some of his best performances as Gollum, a wholly CGI’d creature. The original “Lord of the Rings”, “The Fellowship of the Ring”, earned 315.5M domestically, along with 871.5M worldwide, with much more in inflation. The two sequels, “The Two Towers” and “The Return of the King” earned 926M and 1.177B globally respectively, marking an exponential growth from the first to third film. Some other big films Serkis performed in were Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of “The Adventures It Tintin” (77.5M domestically, 373.9M globally), as well as the rebooted “Planet of the Apes” franchise, where he voiced Caesar the chimp, with the trilogy grossing 532.1M combined domestically, along with a combined worldwide total of 1.683 billion dollars, along with receiving critical acclaim. He also acted in a couple of new “Star Wars” films, as well as Marvel feature “Black Panther”. This was until he made his directorial debut with “Mowgli” last year, a Netflix produced reboot of “The Jungle Book”, making for an expensive, but pretty dull film. The picture scored 45% “sour” on the Lemonradar, we praised the dazzling special effects, but the thin plotting, and the dull script were panned. The actor is great at performing CGI’d creations, whether it’s a monkey, or a bear, a captain, or even a withered up monster. However, his one directed film had pretty low success, but who knows, with his skills with CGI, “Venom 2” could be great.

Rupert Wyatt, 46, director

The filmmaker has not done much, but he’s had some experience with CGI too, and could be a good fit for the picture. It’ll be a gamble on whether Wyatt will have a financial or critical victory with the sequel, but there’s chances. Wyatt is primarily known for helming the original film in the rebooted “Planet of the Apes” trilogy, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”, which scored 80% “sweet” on the Lemonradar, while grossing 176.7M domestically, and 481.8M worldwide, a financial success. His second feature film is a reboot of the classic James Caan film, “The Gambler” starring Mark Wahlberg, which scored 50% “sour” on the Lemonradar, and grossed just 33.6M in North America, and 39.2M worldwide on a budget reaching 25 million dollars. His latest film, “Captive State”, had its debut earlier this year, opening to mixed reception and horrible box office. To be exact, the picture ended with only 5.9M domestically, and 8.7M worldwide on a budget capping 25 million. He’s had his ups and downs, but Wyatt has proved to be an inventive filmmaker nonetheless.

Travis Knight, 45, director

Our third and final filmmaker in the race is savvy with both stop motion animation and robots, but will he bring justice to the comics. Knight has produced both ParaNorman and The Boxtrolls, which both had good successes with the critics, and the box office, but they weren’t showcased financially. Otherwise, his directorial debut was “Kubo and the Two Strings”, which opened in 2016 with a very positive 80% “sweet” on the Lemonradar, we praised the performances, the stop-motion animation and the storytelling. The film struggled in the box office though, grossing just 48M domestically, and 69.9M worldwide on a budget of 60 million. His second film was a “Transformers” prequel dubbed “Bumblebee”, which scored 70% “sweet/sour” on the Lemonradar, the highest rated “Transformers” installment. The CGI driven picture had some success in the box office, and earned 127.1M in North America, along with 467.9M globally on a budget of 135 million, despite being the lowest-grossing film in the franchise.