With Sony Pictures’ Venom releasing later this week, you’d expect the marketing campaign to be a well-oiled machine by this point. Unfortunately, though, it seems they didn’t reckon with Tom Hardy, who’s provided ample fuel for fans dismayed about the movie’s PG-13 rating.
It was widely reported during the film’s production that director Ruben Fleischer was shooting with an R-rating in mind, hoping to produce a hit along the same lines as the Deadpool series or Logan. When it was revealed that it’d be PG-13, most assumed it was a decision made for commercial reasons, though there were denials that was the case.
The notion that Venom‘s been neutered will only pick up steam with this quote by Hardy though. Asked by Comics Explained what his favorite scenes in the movie were, he replied:
“Things that aren’t in this movie. There are like 30 to 40 minutes worth of scenes that aren’t in this movie… all of them. Mad puppeteering scenes, dark comedy scenes. You know what I mean? They just never made it in.”
When the star of a film comes out and says his favorite scenes aren’t even in the movie, you might have a problem on your hands. We may be off the mark, but these comments lead us to believe that Tom Hardy has only just seen the final cut of Venom, realized it’s a stinker and has decided to begin distancing himself from it. It also amplify the cries for Sony Pictures to release an uncut version at a later date, too, which I have no doubt they will to much fanfare.
This all leaves the inaugural outing of the Sony Universe of Marvel Characters (which I guess we’re going to have to call the SUoMC) on shakier ground than the studio would like. The movie’s intended to launch a kind of B-class MCU concerned with the characters Sony still has rights to, which is why we’re getting films staring Morbius, Kraven the Hunter and more real soon. But if Venom proves a dud, the studio might be forced to pull a Warner Bros. style mea culpa and change direction.
Either way, the review embargo lifts on Wednesday, so we’ll know in just a few days whether Venom is a hit or a hash.
