VENOM
LET THERE BE
CARNAGE

A SEQUEL WITH A NEW DIRECTOR

HOW THE SEQUEL WAS MADE

Kelly Marcel wrote the screenplay, with Tom Hardy and Marcel sharing the story credit, and Andy Serkis was hired to direct in early August 2019, partly for his experience with CGI and motion capture. Marco Beltrami composed the score after replacing Ludwig Göransson, as revealed in December 2020. Woody Harrelson had been introduced as Cletus Kasady in the mid-credits scene of the first film.

Principal photography began on 15 November 2019 at Leavesden Studios in England under the working title Fillmore, wrapped in England on 8 February 2020, and moved to San Francisco, where Grace Cathedral was used on 20 and 21 February. The budget was $110 million.

EDDIE, VENOM AND A SERIAL KILLER

WHAT THE FILM IS ABOUT

Tom Hardy said in September 2021 that in the sequel “we’ve established a relationship,” so Venom could speak more and sound more articulate. Serkis described the aim as keeping the relationship “bubbling away and growing into an odd couple relationship.”

“Andy Serkis is better at this than any human being on the planet.”

Woody Harrelson, on Serkis and the voice of Carnage, 29 September 2021

Harrelson said Serkis wanted him to voice Carnage himself.

A SECOND SYMBIOTE

WHO IS IN THE CAST

Tom Hardy plays Eddie Brock and Venom, with Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasady and Carnage, Michelle Williams as Anne Weying, Naomie Harris as Frances Barrison, or Shriek, Stephen Graham as Patrick Mulligan, Reid Scott as Dan Lewis and Peggy Lu as Mrs. Chen.

FROM OCTOBER 2020 TO OCTOBER 2021

HOW THE FILM WAS RELEASED AND WHAT IT EARNED

The film was first dated 2 October 2020 and moved several times, with dates including 25 June, 17 September and 24 September 2021, before settling on 1 October. It premiered in London on 14 September 2021. It opened to $90,033,210 in the US and went on to earn $213,550,366 there and $506,813,864 worldwide. The opening was the highest of the pandemic period up to that point, and the second weekend fell 64%, to $32 million.

The mid-credits scene transports Eddie and Venom into the MCU by way of the spell in Spider-Man: No Way Home, where they watch a news report on Peter Parker. Jon Watts directed it with uncredited footage of Tom Holland and J.K. Simmons.

THE REWATCH

A 58% CRITICS SCORE AND A B+ FROM AUDIENCES

Rotten Tomatoes lists a 58% critics’ score from 282 reviews and an 83% audience score, and its consensus says the film “eagerly embraces the franchise’s sillier side.” Metacritic gives it 49 from 48 critics, and CinemaScore audiences gave it a B+. Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent gave it four stars out of five, calling it “a love story written in blood, sweat and the slime of half-eaten brains,” while Kevin Maher of The Times gave one star and called it an “abominable sequel.”

In the Marvel Marathon it sits in the Marvel movies in release order guide between Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Eternals. In the Spider-Man movies in order guide it comes between The Daily Bugle Season 1 and The Daily Bugle Season 2.