It was a disappointment, but not a surprise, that Venom is rated PG-13 (“for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and for language”). The expected violence was toned down because, presumably, Sony Pictures wants Venom and Spider-Man to eventually face off, but that’s not going to happen with an R rating. Tom Hardy, who plays Eddie Brock-turned-alien symbiote host in the Ruben Fleischer-directed film, understands the necessity behind the 13-and-over rating, but he’s still hoping for Venom to go full Venom, eventually.
“To be fair, the [Venom property] can fulcrum into R-rated and fulcrum into youth or children. My littlest ones, they watch Spider-Man and Venom quite comfortably and Venom toys appear and LEGO appear,” he told MTV News. “So it’s not like they’re scared by him, and at the same time there’s a lot in the real estate that you can actually imbue with a complete sense of gratuitous ultra-violence if you really wanted to, and I think you’ve got the right people for that job if you want to push it, ‘cause that’s where I’d love to go with it.”
Have we learned nothing from the violent success of Deadpool and Deadpool 2 or the lackluster reception to Spider-Man 3, which was also rated PG-13?
(Besides giving Venom a bigger tongue.)
Venom, which also stars Riz Ahmed and Michelle Williams, opens on October 5.
(Via IndieWire)