Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage, opening September 24, is essentially the kick-off movie of the post-summer season.
Well, I guess this means I can be a little more optimistic in my upcoming “Are we about to see more release date delays?” post. Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage, opening September 24, is essentially the kick-off movie of the post-summer season. And while much of this summer’s movie offerings were financially flexible horror movies (even The Forever Purge will at least triple its $25 million budget) or commercially questionable biggies ( Space Jam: A New Legacy and Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins were almost certainly doomed in any circumstance), the end of the year will (barring further delays) feature a slate of “big” movies ( No Time to Die, Top Gun: Maverick, Dune, etc.) that studios are expecting to break out. With the important caveat that we’re talking about a Venom sequel and nobody’s expecting this one to challenge The Last Duel or West Side Story in this year’s Oscar race, this looks frankly terrific. Andy Serkis is directing this time out, a canny choice in terms of filmmaker matched up with material, and it’s arguable that Serkis is just enough of a name to qualify as “marquee director.” The second trailer continues to sell the idea that Sony understands why Venom became a surprise super-smash, and it’s not because of the first film’s somewhat generic fx-driven action beats. We get plenty of Eddie (Tom Hardy) and Venom (Tom Hardy) internally squabbling, which continues even when the film’s marquee baddie (Woody Harrelson’s Carnage) takes center stage.
