I don't think it will ever be too soon to get rid of the imagine of Topher Grace as Venom, easily the worst casting choice in any superhero movie ever. A complete abomination in every way. The sooner you can put a properly done Venom on screen to rid us of that imagine, the better. I also want to see Carnage hit the big screen at some point.
Tom Hardy as Venom is the best option for the Box Office, I don't think there is anyone they could cast that would be better from a marketing standpoint. He has the acting skills and the fan following to put butts in the seats. If you want to do a Venom standalone movie, you have to get someone established.
Despite Venom being my favorite Spiderman villain I've never actually given much thought as to who should play him for whatever reason. I like some of the other choices mentioned. Jensen Ackles would be very good. Dominic Purcell makes alot of sense. Kevin Durand would be great as Venom itself, though he's not a great actor, just a solid one. Jai Courtney is another with the right look but not exactly a great actor. Personally I like Ackles the best but Hardy would easily be best for the movies success in theaters.
Ben Foster would be my top choice for Carnage. Robert Knepper, Norman Reedus would be my other choices. I'm sure there is more I could think of later.
I think they have to have Garfield in the black suit first, then it gets transferred to Brock. I agree with having one movie of Garfield in black, the next with Venom as the main villain.
As for the look of Venom, the CGI part of Spiderman 3 wasn't awful (when Topher's ******ed face wasn't sticking out of it) but I would like to see a much bigger, physically imposing, horror like version of that. Like this one and the other pictures posted earlier...
SMH/LMAO @ The Game or Channing Tatum. Please god no, the only thing worse than that would be bringing back Topher. Tatum may look the part but he's awful in anything that's not a comedy and The Game, do I really need to even say why he's a horrible choice? Stick to being an awful rapper, stay away from acting.