The upcoming Venom movie was said to be R-rated when it was first announced, but now it's come out to have a PG-13 rating. The movie has Tom Hardy as the main star, and he's hoping that if a sequel would ever be greenlit, it would actually embrace the R-rating this time around.
Talking to MTV, Hardy says:
"To be fair the thing could fulcrum into R-rated. It can fulcrum into for youth or children. My littlest ones they watch Spider-Man and Venom quite comfortably, and Venom toys appear and Lego appear in my nostrils in the morning. So it's not like they're scared by him, but at the same time, there's a lot with the real estate that you can actually imbue with a complete sense of gratuitous ultraviolence if you really wanted to. And I think you've got the right people for that job if you want to push it because that's where I'd love to go with it. And I'd love to go through all The Avengers as well with him. But that's above my pay grade."
We know that R-rated superhero films can still work thanks to Deadpool, but if Sony really wanted to expand their audience, then the PG-13 rating seems to be the way to go. Sure, some fanboys are going to want to see some real violence in the film, but I think Sony is waiting for the franchise to be more recognized before they start making any more risks.
Venom is going to come out in barely a week, and this will be the first film to kick-off the SUMC (Sony's Universe of Marvel Characters). Other films down the pipeline are set to focus on characters like Morbius, Black Cat, Silver Sable, and Kraven the Hunter; but Sony is probably testing the waters with Venom before they push forward completely.
Venom hits theaters Oct. 5.
Related: Venom Takes Down a SWAT Team in New Clip