Looks like we’ll be waiting a bit longer to see Carnage and Tom Hardy’s abs grace the big screen. According to a Variety report, Sony has announced Venom: Let There Be Carnage’s release date has been pushed from September 24 to October 15. The news follows the ongoing surge in COVID-19 cases in the U.S. due to the Delta variant and rising discomfort towards visiting theaters. According to the National Research Group, consumer confidence in movie theaters being safe and COVID-free has plummeted from 81% on July 11 to just 66% as of August 9. Seeing as how low attendance makes for poor box-office performance, it comes as little surprise that Sony made the call to wait a bit longer.
For those at home keeping score, this delay does push Venom firmly into the category of films delayed more than a year after their originally intended release date. When first announced, Venom was slated for an October 2, 2020 release, however, problems related to COVID soon got that date pushed back to June 25, 2021. Since then, the film has been pushed back even more and has since landed at its current October 15 release date.
Seeing as how 2018’s Venom was a surprise hit for Sony that raked in a whopping $855 million at the global box office, it makes sense that the studio is waiting for the perfect — and safest — time to release the film. The second one in the series, Venom: Let Their Be Carnage picks up where its previous entry left off and examines just how journalist Eddie Brock (Tom hardy) is coping with having an alien symbiote living within him. In addition to tackling his own inner demons, Brock gets pulled into a battle against serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) who has a symbiote of his own called Carnage. The film features Michelle Williams, Reid Scott, Naomie Harris, and, of course, Hardy and Harrelson.
On top of just looking pretty damn exciting, Venom: Let There Be Carnage could prove to be an incredibly important film for — wait for it — the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now that Spider-Man is a part of the MCU, there’s no stopping Sony and Disney from any further team-ups, and there are several Easter eggs that lead us to think something could be coming. Here’s hoping the October 15 release date is the firm and final one for Let There Be Carnage and we can finally see what’s in store for Brock and, fingers crossed, the MCU.