Shuvrajit Das Biswas
‘Venom 2’, the sequel to Sony’s ‘Venom‘ movie, has begun the search for a new director. It had already been suggested earlier that Ruben Fleischer, who directed the first movie, would not be returning to helm the sequel. Now one of the movie scooping websites has confirmed that the director famous for works like ‘Zombieland’ and ‘Gangster Squad’ has officially parted ways with ‘Venom 2’. For those unaware, Fleischer is currently working on the ‘Zombieland’ sequel titled ‘Zombieland: Double Tap‘ which is scheduled to hit theaters on October 11, 2019. Presumably, being busy with this project led the director to leave Sony’s movie.
Reports suggest that ‘Venom 2’ will go to the floors soon, with production starting in Atlanta this November. The film has a tentative release date of October 2, 2020. For now, little is known about the plot or details of the upcoming project. However, we do know that Kelly Marcel, who is best known for writing ‘Venom’ and ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, is returning to pen the script for ‘Venom 2’ as well. We are also aware of the fact that Cletus Kasady or Carnage, the character played by Woody Harrelson, will be the main antagonist in the follow-up film. Notably, Carnage was teased in the mid-credit scene of the first ‘Venom’ movie when Tom Hardy‘s character, Eddie Brock was invited to interview Casady, who promised ‘carnage’ once he managed to get out of prison.
Considering Kasady is a brutal serial killer, most fans were hoping for a dark R-rated film, but these hopes were dashed by producer Avi Arad, who advised fans against holding their breaths in this regard. Arad explained in an interview to Collider last year, “You know what? When you hear Venom…forget Venom. 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? Was he born like that, or it’s someone we should feel for, because if you are succeeding to make a villain someone you can feel for, jackpot”.
While the critical response to ‘Venom’ was not too encouraging, the commercial success was astounding. The film minted a whopping $855 million worldwide and $213 million domestically against the reported budget of $100 million. This box-office success was instrumental in convincing Sony to build a franchise around the character. Presumably Hardy will return to play the role Brock, who is a gutsy reporter getting up to heroics after his body becomes the host to an alien symbiote.
‘Venom’ shows the character based on Marvel comics. The film was an excellent exploration of how the character can sometimes be a little villainous but ultimately is more of an anti-hero. Brock’s relationship with Venom, which seems crucial to each other’s survival, was portrayed with a degree of finesse. While the first film saw Venom face off against Riot, a powerful symbiote that bonded with Riz Ahmed‘s character Carlton Drake, it will be all the more fascinating to see him encounter his true nemesis, Carnage. Notably, ‘Venom’ had released on October 5, 2018, and the film has now been made available on home media release.
