Fresh off the news that Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a major box office winner (pandemic or no pandemic) comes news that Venom: Let There Be Carnage‘s release date is in flux once again. However, rather than another delay, the film is being moved up, with Deadline revealing that Sony’s superhero flick is now poised to open on October 1st.
This is promising news for exhibitors, who’ve been bracing for more delays, with the smart money guessing that Venom would only open in January of 2022. Just last week, Top Gun: Maverick and Jackass Forever flew the coup in a massive reshuffling of Paramount Pictures’ release calendar. In my CinemaCon coverage, I noted that Sony, more so than most studios, seemed to be a champion of the theatrical experience, and indeed the new date for Venom: Let There Be Carnage proves this. They also moved Ghostbusters: Afterlife (which screened to raves at CinemaCon) to Thanksgiving weekend, so even if other studios are avoiding theaters thanks to the Delta Variant, Sony’s going to keep them going until the end of the year when hopefully the situation looks a little brighter.
It’s worth noting that a VOD release was seemingly never in the cards for Venom: Let There be Carnage. Release dates came and went, but Sony held onto the sequel, which boasts a brand new director in Andy Serkis. While critically maligned by some, Venom went on to gross an impressive $856 million worldwide in 2018. Tom Hardy seemed high on the sequel, saying recently that he’d already begun thinking about a third installment. In this one, Woody Harrelson shows up as Venom’s arch-nemesis, Carnage, while Michelle Williams returns as Eddie Brock’s love interest, Anne. Speaking for myself, I’m pretty confident that Venom: Let There Be Carnage will be one of the rare sequels that’s better than the original, and I’m pumped to see it in theaters on October 1st!
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