Venom Producer Says Tom Hardy’s The Reason The Film Was A Huge Hit

Love it or hate it, Sony’s Venom movie that was released last year wound up being a huge financial success. Having grossed $855 million worldwide and receiving an 81% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s probably fair to say most viewers enjoyed it to some extent. Conversely, it didn’t do so well with critics, but that did nothing to stop the hype train.

But if both sides of the aisle can agree on anything, it’s that the titular character was portrayed much better than he was in 2007’s Spider-Man 3 – and that Tom Hardy was a better casting choice than Topher Grace. In fact, producer Amy Pascal firmly believes the leading man’s involvement was one element crucial to finding a winning formula:

“It’s a couple of things. One of them is that Sony did a great job creating that franchise and giving it a life and giving it its own world. Then there’s Tom Hardy. When you think of Venom, you’ll never be able to think of anyone but Tom Hardy sitting in that bathtub of lobsters. And once you saw Tom Hardy do this character, that’s all you needed to know.”

Okay, I wouldn’t exactly say the lobster tank scene was one of the movie’s high points, but this is Sony we’re talking about. Regardless, I have to concede to Pascal’s first point because the filmmakers somehow managed to make an origin story focused on Eddie Brock work without the involvement of Spider-Man.

Speaking of Webhead, it seems like a day can’t go by that we’re not hearing about how Sony wants a crossover between the two icons. It seems odd talking about whether we can see Spidey and Venom in the same picture again, but that’s what happens when the former is being shared with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But if indeed Tom Hardy and Tom Holland were to go head to head on the big screen, it’d be safe to assume lots of dough will be raked in.