It may not have fared well critically, but Venom's massive box office haul cemented it as one of 2018's most commercially successful movies. As a result, it's been expected that Sony would give the green light to a sequel, and that seemed to be the case when it was reported in November that the studio had dated an "untitled Sony-Marvel sequel" for late 2020. But now it's official: Venom 2 is happening, and it's bringing back one of the contributors from the first movie.
Kelly Marcel, one of the Venom screenwriters, has been tapped by Sony to pen Venom 2. According to Variety, Marcel's deal to return was a "significant one," and along with her writing duties, she'll also executive produce the sequel. Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner wrote earlier drafts of Venom, but they won't be involved with Venom 2, leaving it up to Marcel to come up with a new adventure for Eddie Brock and his trusty symbiote from scratch.
Along with the news of Kelly Marcel being back for Venom 2, it was reported that Michelle Williams is expected to reprise Ann Weying alongside Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock and Woody Harrleson's Cletus Kasady. As for who will sit in the director's chair, that remains to be settled. Ruben Fleischer helmed Venom, but sources say that Sony might look for someone else to direct Venom 2 since Fleischer will be busy with the Zombieland sequel. Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach and Amy Pascal will also be back as producers.
With so many familiar people returning for Venom 2, it looks like Sony is trying to follow the phrase "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" as closely as possible. Considering that Venom made over $855 million worldwide, making it the sixth highest grossing movie of 2018, I don't blame the studio for wanting to keep as much intact from that movie for the sequel as possible so it stands a better chance of success.
While no specific story details for Venom 2 have been revealed yet, Venom set the stage for what's to come well enough with its mid-credits scene, which saw Eddie Brock traveling to San Quentin Prison to interview incarcerated serial killer Cletus Kasady, who promised there would be carnage when he escaped. In case that isn't on the nose enough for you, in the comics, Cletus bonds with one of the Venom symbiote's offspring and becomes Carnage, who, unlike Venom, has no moral compass whatsoever. So yeah, one can easily put the pieces together and deduce that Venom 2 will see Eddie, Cletus and their respective symbiote partners clashing.
Assuming Venom 2 is indeed the "untitled Sony-Marvel sequel" we mentioned earlier, then you can watch it in theaters on October 2, 2020. Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more updates, and for movies arriving sooner, look through our 2019 release schedule.
