A press release issued by Sony in the early hours of Friday on ElectroArrives.com has revealed that plans are in the works to expand the Amazing Spider-Man universe.

Producers Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner, Ed Solomon, and Drew Goddard are collaborating to develop The Amazing Spider-Man world over “several films.”

The five writers will act as a brain trust to keep “a continuous tone and thread throughout the films.” Kurtzman, Orci, and Solomon will write the screenplay for Venom, which Kurtzman will also direct. In addition, Goddard will write (and potentially direct) The Sinister Six, “focusing on the villains in the franchise. ”

Said Doug Belgrad, President of Columbia Pictures, “The Spider-Man film franchise is one of our studio’s greatest assets. We are thrilled with the creative team we have assembled to delve more deeply into the world that Marc, Avi and Matt have begun to explore in The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. We believe that Marc, Alex, and Drew have uniquely exciting visions for how to expand the Spider-Man universe in each of these upcoming films.”

We’ve reported before that Chronicle director Josh Trank had aa Venom spin-off in the works, but after it as announced that Trank would be instead focusing on the long-awaited Fantastic 4 reboot for FOX, things have been all quiet on the Venom front. Until today.

At this point, we know very little about if Sony is planning to alter Venom’s back story (ala this incarnation of Peter Parker) to suit the overall universe story-line. It’s been said that Oscorp would be the overall villain in this Amazing iteration of Spider-Man, so it makes sense to have Venom be related to that in some way.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is set to hit theaters May 2, 2014, while Spider-Man 3 is due June 10, 2016 and Spider-Man 4 is pegged for May 4, 2018.

On Wednesday we shared comments from Andrew Garfield in which he said he’s not involved with Spider-Man 4 – could this because Sinister Six is taking its place and a new Spider-Man actor will strap on the suit? Hopefully we’ll know soon.

Last week we were treated to the first full-length trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man sequel which received a lot of criticism from the internet.

The expanded Spider-Man universe draws comparisons to what Marvel is doing with The Avengers and what Warner Bros. may have planned for the Justice League.