Venom 2 may have a better shot of an R-rating now. If Marvel Studios and Sony can’t reach an agreement over the Spider-Man franchise, the rest of the Sony Marvel properties may be able to get a little more of an edge since they won’t have to deal with Disney any longer. Before Venom hit theaters last year, director Reuben Fleischer was confident that an R-rating would be attached to the final product. However, things changed by the time the movie was ready to hit theaters.
It is believed Sony chose to go with a PG-13 rating for Venom in an effort to leave room for possible cross pollination with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This is sound reasoning and the rating certainly didn’t hurt the movie at the box office, though critics and fans were a more than disappointed with the finished product. With that being said, if Spider-Man is truly leaving the MCU, Venom 2 could easily end up with an R-rating and a grittier story since there will be no concerns about staying sanitized.
It was recently revealed that Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige had an uncredited hand in the making of Venom. However, it is believed he was guiding the project from behind-the-scenes before it got to the final cut stage. With Feige and Marvel out of the equation, we could possibly see Tom Holland and Tom Hardy joining forces a lot sooner than originally anticipated, though that is not confirmed at this point in time. For now, Venom 2 is looking to begin production at the end of this year with Andy Serkis at the helm.
Tom Hardy has spoken about wanting Venom 2 to be an R-rated affair and he even had a hand in writing the script this time around. None of this means that an R-rating can’t happen if Spider-Man stays in the MCU, though it stands to reason that it would be a lot easier to accomplish without Marvel Studios in the mix. Kevin Feige now has the Deadpool franchise under his umbrella and it would be hard to make a movie without an R-rating for the Merc with a Mouth, so we will more than likely see a trend towards getting into the R-rated game for Marvel Studios in the future.
It has been reported that Sony and Marvel Studios can still come to an agreement, but as it stands, Spider-Man has disappeared from the MCU. From an outsider’s perspective, it seems like a no-brainer to find some common ground since the character has immensely helped out both franchise’s so much over the past five years. But, if a deal can’t be made, we might end up seeing some edgier Sony movies on the way, including Venom 2. The R-rated news was first reported by Justin Kroll’s Twitter account.
Haven’t had time to weigh in on SPIDEY yet but one thing that sticks out is the possibility of getting R-rated films in that universe including VENOM 2 now that there is no Disney connection. Sony had considered a R-rated VENOM but passed in fear cross-over chances would be hurt
— Justin Kroll (@krolljvar) August 20, 2019
