Defying all expectations, Sony’s Venom movie was a huge success for the company. The film pulled in more than $855 million dollars worldwide, easily making it Sony’s highest-grossing movie of the year, and the film’s $213 million domestic take narrowly missed the Top 10 of domestic earners for 2018. It’s no surprise, then, that a sequel is coming, and today Variety reports the official word that screenwriter and producer Kelly Marcel, one of the writers on the first film, will be returning for the second.

The report includes news that both Tom Hardy, who starred as Eddie Brock, and Michelle Williams, who played Eddie’s ex, Anne Weying, will both be returning. They’ll be joined by Woody Harrelson, who appeared in Venom‘s mid-credits scene as Cletus Kasady, the serial killer who would be Carnage. No word yet on whether Harrelson’s incredible wig from that scene will also be returning.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Venom. I had no expectations going into it, and the plot was formulaic as can be, but I found the banter between Eddie and the symbiote legitimately charming, and the whole affair ended up winning me over in a ‘turn off your brain’ kind of way.

Look for the sequel to Venom in 2020.

4 COMMENTS

  1. “the whole affair ended up winning me over in a ‘turn off your brain’ kind of way.”

    This is why superhero movies won’t achieve the artistry of, say, the Westerns to which they’re often wrongly compared. The fans rarely demand better movies.

    As long as a movie isn’t unbearably bad (like Catwoman or the FF reboot) or unnervingly personal (like Ang Lee’s Hulk), fans tend to accept what they get.They just “turn off their brains” and enjoy the CGI.

  2. I am intrigued, Joe. Like you, I’m better off seeing Venom with low expectations just to maximise enjoyment. That’s always great, and can be the best experience.

  3. “This is why superhero movies won’t achieve the artistry of, say, the Westerns to which they’re often wrongly compared.”

    Dude…do you KNOW how many Westerns used to get made? For ever one legitimately great one, there must have been at least 20 or 30 that were no more than “turn your brain off” enjoyable. I believe John Wayne made over 70 Westerns! How far down that list can you go before you get to films that are, at best, just “turn your brain off” enjoyable?

    Mike

  4. MBunge, there hasn’t yet been a John Ford of superhero movies, or even a Howard Hawks or Sam Peckinpah or Sergio Leone or Anthony Mann or Clint Eastwood or Henry Hathaway. No superhero movie to date has been the equal of their best movies.

    The relative cheapness of Westerns encouraged experimentation. But superhero movies, being very expensive, discourage creativity. They’re increasingly made by committee. Which is fine with the average fanboy, who just wants to see his beloved “tropes” (formulas and conventions) over and over.

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