Tom Hardy will soon be back at it as Eddie Brock/Venom in another Marvel Comics adaptation for Sony Pictures. It had previously been confirmed that Venom 3 was moving forward with Hardy returning to reprise the role of the title character, with series writer Kelly Marcel stepping up to direct the sequel. Now, we have word that production will soon begin on the finale to the trilogy, in addition to confirmation of a release window.
According to Variety, Venom 3 will hit theaters in October 2024, just in time for Halloween. Unfortunately, no specific release date was revealed, but that at least gives us an idea of when to expect it. Juno Temple (Ted Lasso) spoke with the outlet and is due to appear in the sequel. While she didn't say much, she mentioned that filming is set to begin "very, very soon, which I'm thrilled about." In addition to Temple, Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) is also set to appear in the film.
Interestingly, Ejiofor plays Mordo in the Doctor Strange films, but since the Venom movies take place elsewhere in the multiverse, he will presumably be playing a different character here. So he gets to double up on the Marvel paychecks, and the Venom franchise gets an A-list actor to help class up the joint. A win-win. Plot details for the film currently remain firmly under wraps.
Little is known about the movie, but one thing we do know is that Andy Serkis, who directed 2021's Venom: Let There Be Carnage, will not be returning. Why is that, exactly? Speaking with Slash Film earlier this year, the filmmaker explained that he's simply too busy to take on another superhero blockbuster.
"Look, I had a ball doing [Venom: Let There Be Carnage]. Tom Hardy is such a good friend of mine, and I felt very proud of the work, and we had such fun doing it. To be the custodian of that franchise for a little while was great. I've got so many projects that I was just about to [work on], like 'Animal Farm' for instance. We were just about to go into production with that, and then we delayed as 'Venom' came up. I really have to be very on top of the ones that I've been building to do for such a long time. But I'm really delighted that Kelly's doing that. She's so in control of that material with Tom. The pair of them are such a great team to work with. I'm really excited to see what they're going to come up with."
In addition to bringing a bit of a horror flavor to mainstream superhero films, Sony’s Venom solo flicks have been very successful financially up to this point. The first one earned a staggering $856 million in 2018, while Let There Be Carnage took in an impressive $501 million in 2021 while theaters were still recovering from the pandemic. A third entry was inevitable with returns like those.
Look for Venom 3 in theaters in October 2024.
