Venom received a PG-13 rating instead of the R rating some were hopeful for. But this might be to keep things tame for a possible Spider-Man crossover in the future.
Sony is playing it safe when it comes to Venom’s rating. While the film looks like it has a dark tone to it (and could have potentially received an R rating) the movie won’t be joining the likes of Deadpool and Logan. But it could all be for a very good reason.
The film’s PG-13 was just announced, and it’s in line with most other superhero movies like Spider-Man: Homecoming and Avengers: Infinity War… and if you can see what these movies have in common, then you might know why Sony’s aiming to keep this movie tame: Spider-Man.
It’s not confirmed if Spider-Man will be appearing inVenom, but Sony just might be hoping to have the two appear together down the line. This info comes from Fandango’s managing editor, Erik Davis, who revealed on Twitter that this was the studio’s intention.
#Venom is officially rated PG-13. Hearing from studio sources the reason is so that Venom and Spider-Man can face off at some point down the line. If the movie is R, it’s hard to do that. pic.twitter.com/dBZzgY18k3
— Erik Davis (@ErikDavis) September 13, 2018
As a follow-up to his statement, Davis went on to explain in another tweet how it makes sense to keep Venom PG-13 if Sony has hopes for a crossover. Spider-Man is very much a PG-13-rated hero, and (at least in the MCU) is nothing like the R-rated Deadpool. That’s why it would be a misstep to give Venom a higher rating since it wouldn’t align with how Spider-Man’s been portrayed thus far.
This rating for Venom seems like the safest and best choice for Sony. Fans can’t get enough of Spider-Man (let alone Tom Holland), so we’re sure Sony wouldn’t want to jeopardize its chance to bring the web-slinger into more movies in his universe.
On Fandango, Davis did ask Venom’s director, Ruben Fleischer, if we could expect to see any Easter eggs (as far as characters, storylines, etc.) in the movie. Fleischer revealed that he did hide a few special things in his movie, saying:
"Some are more obvious than others. I’m excited for fans of the comics to see the movie and try to spot them. One thing I will say is that, you know, at least was really gratifying for me, is when the trailer came out, people recognized frames that were taken directly from the comics that we tried to recreate in the movie."
There’s no way to tell if this means there’d be a right-out Spider-Man cameo, but we may get small teasers and hints at the wall-crawler. Given his answer, it seems like Venom will be full of Spider-Man references, so you’ll have to keep an eye out.
As for the movie’s rating, and those hoping for something a little more extreme, Fleischer said in the interview that he wouldn’t rule out an unrated cut in the future. You’ll just have to shield Peter Parker’s innocent eyes while watching that version.
(H/T: ScreenRant)