Surprising absolutely no one, a sequel to this October’s anti-hero blockbuster, Venom, is in the works. One of the movie’s screenwriters – Jeff Pinkner – confirmed as much in an interview with Discussing Film. He couldn’t give many details, of course. These things tend to come with a certain degree of secrecy, early on. But he seemed unconvinced that he’d be returning to pen the script, himself. Though he did leave it open as a possibility with his language. This is very standard. The first movie in potential franchises like this doesn’t always involve extended contracts because the studio doesn’t know how the film will perform. As such, there usually aren’t names attached to sequels until after the decision is made to go forward with them.
Venom received negative to lukewarm reviews from critics. But fans were overall more accepting of the film, as has been a trend over the past few years, in particular. The DCEU is proof enough of that, by itself. The movie managed to perform well beyond its box office projections in the U.S. However, the real impact came from the international release, which surpassed the domestic by a wide margin with an impressive $700 million, worldwide. Overall, the chance on the film certainly paid off. Though one wonders if morbid curiosity fueled at least some of those numbers. Thus a sequel may not be as successful. With that said, the sequel was set up for in the film. One of the post-credits scenes featured Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock visiting Woody Harelson’s Cletus Kasady – the character who infamously goes on to become the red-symbiote-wearing villain, Carnage.
Many fans expected to see Carnage in a key role with this movie. But getting him in a sequel may be exactly the draw necessary to get people back in seats for it. Though there’s still the looming question of the sequel’s rating. Venom was PG-13 but didn’t feature Carnage – a serial killer known for absolutely brutal and grisly murders. That, alone, could hinder the film, just as much as the promise of Carnage helps it. At this time, there are no further details on the sequel.
