Although the critics weren’t terribly impressed, last year’s Venom movie was a surprise hit, both at the box office and with audience approval. Some lines, like the “turd in the wind” monologue, were cringeworthy, but they were also faithful to the character (that “turd in the wind” line even came directly from the comics!).
It was certainly an improvement over Topher Grace’s portrayal of Venom in Spider-Man 3, but then that bar was never set very high. Tom Hardy made a compelling enough lead that the movie grossed $800 million worldwide and a sequel was in order. So, here is Everything We Know (So Far) About Venom 2.
Carnage will be the main villain
Woody Harrelson made a crazy gamble when he agreed to play Cletus Kasady in Venom’s mid-credits scene. He had to sign on to appear in a single scene teasing a larger role in the next movie without being able to see a script for that movie.
But anyway, he rolled the dice, and now, he’s expecting a large role as the primary villain in Venom 2. Cletus Kasady is, of course, better known as Carnage. Carnage is a different symbiote – one that is mortal enemies with the Venom symbiote – and he’s a Spider-Man villain as well as a Venom villain.
Andy Serkis is directing
Ruben Fleischer, the director of the first Venom movie, was unable to return for the sequel, because he was too busy working on a sequel to his own movie, Zombieland. Instead, the studio has brought in Andy Serkis.
With his extensive experience in motion-capture performance – having played Gollum, King Kong, Captain Haddock, Planet of the Apes’ Caesar, and Supreme Leader Snoke using the technology – Serkis should be able to find a great way to make Eddie Brock and Venom more intertwined, as opposed to Venom just looking like bland CGI plastered over Tom Hardy’s face. It might look more vibrant.
It’ll be released on October 2, 2020
Venom 2 is set to be released on October 2, 2020, which will be approximately two years after the first one hit theaters. This is the same release date as Bios, a sci-fi drama starring Tom Hanks, although Eddie Brock and his symbiotes will hardly face any competition from that.
If The Sopranos’ big-screen prequel The Many Saints of Newark or Edgar Wright’s horror movie Last Night in Soho hold over from the previous week, the sequel could be in trouble. The following week, it will face off against Kenneth Branagh’s next Poirot movie Death on the Nile and an as-yet-undecided Disney live-action remake.
Tom Hardy is signed on for Venom 3, too
After the first Venom movie was released, Tom Hardy confirmed that he signed a three-picture contract when Sony initially selected him to play Eddie Brock. So, he will not only be appearing in Venom 2; God willing, he’ll be appearing in Venom 3, too.
If the MCU has taught us anything, it’s that solo superhero stories work better as trilogies. They’re classically structured stories: a first part that introduce the character and their conflicts, a second part to take them to their worst point, and a third part to wrap everything up in a neat bow. The Venom franchise is on the right track.
Michelle Williams is back
Some critics felt that Michelle Williams phoned in her scenes as Anne Weying in last year’s Venom, or that she looked confused in a lot of the more comic book-y scenes. However, she’s signed on to appear in the sequel, so maybe she’s more committed than those critics realized.
As a district attorney and Eddie’s ex-fiancée, there’s a lot to dig out of this character. The first movie didn’t really know what to do with Anne, and as a result, the immensely talented Williams was wasted. Williams reportedly wants to see more of “She-Venom” in the sequel. Frankly, so do fans.
Tarantino’s go-to cinematographer has been hired
The team behind Venom 2 recently hired Robert Richardson, one of the most acclaimed and gifted cinematographers to ever pick up a camera, to work on the film. Richardson has worked with the likes of Oliver Stone and Martin Scorsese, and he’s been Quentin Tarantino’s go-to guy for a while now.
He just shot Once Upon a Time in Hollywood for the infamously profane filmmaker and he has three Academy Awards for Best Cinematography under his belt. Richardson previously worked with Andy Serkis on his directorial debut, Breathe, so the two already have a relationship, which is probably why he was hired.
Kelly Marcel is writing the script
Kelly Marcel has been hired to write the screenplay for the Venom sequel. Marcel co-wrote the first Venom movie with Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg, but she’ll be writing this one on her own.
Perhaps Marcel’s best-known screenplay is the big-screen adaptation of E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey (which, unfortunately, “won” her the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay, but that’s not really her fault – it’s not like she had a lot of material to work with). She also co-wrote the script for Saving Mr. Banks, the story of how Walt Disney made Mary Poppins, and worked as a script editor on the prison drama Bronson – a movie that also starred Tom Hardy.
Tom Hardy has been working on the script
In the same year that it was reported that Ezra Miller is writing his own script for the Flash’s solo movie in an attempt to cling to the role and jazz Warner Bros., it was announced that Tom Hardy had been working on the script for Venom 2.
As we mentioned earlier, Hardy has worked with screenwriter Kelly Marcel before when she was hired as the script editor for his true-to-life prison drama Bronson. Director Andy Serkis confirmed that Hardy had been “very involved” with Marcel in the writing process for the sequel when he was first brought on board.
Venom 2 won’t be R-rated either
Marvel fans were disappointed when they found out that Sony had gone for a PG-13 rating and chickened out of making their Venom movie R-rated. If ever a character was crying out for an R rating (apart from Deadpool), it’s Venom. Well, as it turns out, the sequel won’t be rated R either.
Producer Avi Arad said, “When you hear Carnage, the only thing you can think of is R. But if you know his story, if you really know the comic, there’s no R here. He’s a tortured soul. It’s not about what he does, because we never have to show the knife going from here to there, and the blood is pouring. What you have to show is, what is the motivation?”
Tom Holland’s Spider-Man might make an appearance
Ever since Sony announced their own MCU-style universe of movies based on Marvel Comics that would interconnect through post-credits scenes and team-ups, an appearance by Tom Holland’s Spider-Man has been teased. Sony is basically building a whole universe around Spidey villains, so they’re naturally adamant that Spidey will show up.
Producer Amy Pascal said of a possible Spidey/Venom team-up, “Everybody would love to see that. You never know. Someday…it might happen.” Then, when she was pressed on it, she added, “We have big plans for Tom Holland to be a part of everything…Every movie we ever do! He needs to be in every movie that I ever work on!”
