Venom Likely To Be Rated PG-13 So It Can Crossover With MCU

Though he spends his evenings decapitating hapless goons and rambling on about turds in the wind, Venom is unlikely to land that fabled R-rating come October.

Variety has the scoop, revealing that Sony and Ruben Fleischer are willing to settle for PG-13 despite the film’s horror leanings – John Carpenter and David Cronenberg are among the inspirations behind Eddie Brock’s on-screen metamorphosis.

Their reasoning is simple: shooting for a family-friendly rating allows Venom to cater to the same audience as Avengers: Infinity War, and while it certainly makes sense from a business perspective, this only adds yet more pressure on Venom‘s burly shoulders.

But first, Variety notes that “some members of Sony’s brain trust believe that the film should push the very limits of PG-13 without crossing over into a higher rating,” all the while lending the studio “greater leeway for future installments that will feature Spider-Man.”

Again, we imagine Marvel Studios will gauge Venom‘s performance before agreeing to lease Tom Holland’s Web-Head for future installments – be it a direct sequel or any one of the numerous Spider-Man projects (Jackpot included) currently brewing over at Sony Pictures.

It’s just another ‘what if?’ to add to the growing collection, as Sony clearly has a lot riding on Venom as we approach its theatrical debut in October. There’s the “Sony Universe of Marvel Characters,” for one, not to mention the fact that Tom Hardy et. al will likely distance themselves from this fledgling universe if Venom is dead on arrival.

That’s the glass-half-empty scenario, of course, and only on October 5th will we be able to run the rule over Sony and Ruben Fleischer’s franchise-starter… for better or worse.