By What can be better than having one Venom movie? Having two Venom movies. It was previously reported that actor and motion capture icon Andy Serkis was one of three directors considered by Sony Pictures to helm the not-rated R sequel to Venom, and both THR and the man himself (per his Instagram) confirmed that Serkis is the final choice for the apparently coveted job.
Fans should be familiar with Serkis as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Caesar in the excellent Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy, with recent roles including Ulysses Klaw in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Supreme Leader Snoke in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. This will be the third film direct by Serkis, the first being the Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy-starring Breathe and the motion capture-heavy Mowgli for Netflix. We can probably expect Serkis to bring his expertise in motion capture performance in bringing Venom and Carnage to life.
The first Venom movie was junk food cinema at best (our review here), and while it isn’t exactly the most deserving film to have a sequel, and while I’ll never understand how it connected with audiences enough for a big enough box office return, it’s difficult to not admit that it was an entertaining romp. Tom Hardy’s bizarre performance as Eddie Brock was already a hoot, but now imagine putting him up against Woody Harrelson’s Carnage, who sported a terrible Carrot Top wig in the post-credits scene of the original film.
Admittedly, I only know about Serkis as a performer, having seen neither of his films. It might be a breath of fresh air from director Ruben Fleischer’s highly-stylistic approach in the first Venom movie (Fleischer is assumed to have been too busy with Zombieland: Double Tap to return for the sequel). It can also be total trash again. We won’t have to wait that long, with production beginning this fall for an October 2, 2020 release date. Now all we have to do is wait for Eminem’s return for a new theme song too.