The social media account for the Venom film starring Tom Hardy has teased the start of production today. Although Sony scored a hit teaming with Marvel for Spider-Man: Homecoming the studio is adamant about producing its own series of films based on the wall-crawler's supporting characters. That means films that exist outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe, making a solo adventure based on Spidey's doppelgänger nemesis a big risk with a potentially high reward that could spawn a whole new series of films for the studio.

Sony efforts have so far netted them a high-profile lead in Tom Hardy. The actor joins Zombieland's Ruben Fleischer who was brought on to direct, while the supporting cast has filled out with more recognizable names as the film approached its start of production. It hasn't always been smooth sailing for the film, as production was delayed several times and the script was reworked by the writer of 50 Shades of Grey. After a series of false starts, it seems the film is finally set to get off the ground.

Venom's verified Twitter account delivered the news that Day 1 of production was underway. The tweet includes a photo of Hardy on set, with two others joining him. The image doesn't offer up any actual images from the film -- much less an image of the titular antihero -- but it does serve as proof that the movie is actually happening.

Day 1. #Venom pic.twitter.com/ftkf9pEWn3— Venom Movie (@VenomMovie) October 24, 2017

This is something of a fresh start for Sony, as the planned Spider-verse series of films were put on hold following the reception of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and once it became clear the studio was going to put a flagship character like Spider-Man back in the hands of his parent company. That puts a great deal of pressure on Venom to perform at the box office. Those concerns are alleviated to a certain degree when you look at the talent the film has assembled that includes Rogue One's Riz Ahmed, as a mysterious Marvel character, while Michelle Williams has signed on to play the female lead. Meanwhile, the movie also boasts indie-darling Jenny Slate, as well as recent additions Reid Scott and Scott Haze.

Venom will have stiff competition next year with superhero films from Marvel Studios, Fox, and Warner Bros. But with the film being described as a horror/sci-fi film that is gunning for a R-rating, it may have found the right formula to stand out from the rest of the comic book crowd.

NEXT: Venom Co-Creator Says Hardy Will Do A Good Job

Source: Sony

Key Release Dates