‘Venom’ Director Says Unrated Version Is Unnecessary

When Venom was first announced, some fans were hopeful that a Marvel movie featuring Spider-Man‘s greatest foe would be a violent, R-rated affair similar to Logan or Deadpool.

The movie hit theaters with a PG-13 rating, and though that might have disappointed some, it still made a ton of money at the box office. So when asked if an unrated version would be in the cards, director Ruben Fleischer wasn’t into the idea.

“I’m proud of the movie we’ve put out, and I think that the additional material on the DVD adds a little bit of color to the film,” Fleischer said to LRM Online. “I don’t feel the need at this point to release an unrated version, I feel like fans seem to really like the movie that we put out.”

Fleischer’s answer is kind of surprising, considering how successful Venom has been since it premiered in theaters. Sony Pictures wouldn’t be faulted if they tried to get more money out of this cash cow, and releasing an unrated version would be good tactic.

However, Sony instead seems content to focus on the sequel, which was just recently confirmed to be in the works by writer Jeff Pinkner

“I can’t say anything other than that it is happening,” Pinkner said to Discussing Film. When asked whether or not he was writing the sequel, he replied, “I am not. As of now, I am not.”

Venom ended with a big tease for Woody Harrelson’s role as Cletus Kasady, who goes on to become the villain Carnage in the comic books. It’s safe to expect the character to play a much larger role in the sequel.

ComicBook.com spoke with Fleischer about that scene and how it all came together.

“So, when we were thinking about including that scene and laying the groundwork for a potential sequel, he was the first person I thought of and a just because selfishly I’m really excited to work with him again, whether it’s in Zombieland 2 or the potential sequel to this film,” Fleischer said. “But if you think about Natural Born Killers and Mickey, the character he played in that film, I feel like there’s a real lineage that you can trace from Mickey to Cletus and I also think that he hasn’t gone dark in that way for a while.”

Venom is now available on Digital HD, Blu-ray, and DVD.