The SAG-AFTRA strike has taken a bite out of Venom 3. Sony Pictures paused production on its Spider-Man Universe spin-off on Friday, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The actors’ work stoppage, which was announced Thursday and called into effect at midnight on Friday, comes just weeks after filming on the Venom threequel began in late June in Spain. It’s the latest high-profile project to halt production indefinitely, joining Marvel Studios’ Deadpool 3, Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two, and Ridley Scott’s Gladiator sequel on the Hollywood sidelines.
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Kelly Marcel, who wrote and produced 2018’s Venom and 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage, is directing from her script. Hardy shares a story credit on the as-yet-untitled Venom 3.
Per the official SAG strike rules, performers are barred from “rendering all services and performing all work covered by the TV/Theatrical Contracts” that expired on June 30th. The list of prohibited services includes but is not limited to principal on-camera work — acting, performing stunts, performance capture or motion capture work — as well as principal off-camera work like ADR [automated dialogue replacement]/looping, voice acting, scanning, rehearsals and camera tests, and fittings, wardrobe tests, and makeup tests.
Venom 3 plot details remain under wraps. Before the SAG strike, the cast set Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) and Juno Temple (The Dark Knight Rises) in undisclosed roles. Hardy, who last appeared in the post-credits scene of 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, reprises his role as Eddie Brock, who bonds with an alien symbiote to become the lethal protector called Venom.
Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, Amy Pascal, and Hutch Parker are serving as producers on the latest installment of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe that will follow last year’s Morbius and the upcoming Kraven the Hunter.
It will be a while longer before fans get a taste of Venom 3. Not only can its cast not promote the movie for the duration of the SAG strike, but Sony Pictures is sitting out San Diego Comic-Con 2023. The studio’s upcoming 2023 releases include Gran Turismo and Kraven the Hunter; Venom 3 is expected to release in theaters in October 2024.
