It’s official. Venom: Let There Be Carnage will be rated PG-13, just like its predecessor, 2018’s VenomAccording to Filmratings.com, the upcoming superhero flick earns its PG-13 rating due to “intense sequences of violence and action, some strong language, disturbing material and suggestive references.” This dashes the hopes of quite a few fans, who were holding out hope for a more violent R-rating.

The original Venom, which stars Tom Hardy as the titular character, earned a whopping $856 million worldwide. Part of the Marvel Comics film’s success was its accessibility — with a PG-13 rating, parents could even take their young teens to watch the mild bloodbath. It seems like Sony Pictures is hoping to recapture the same demographic with Venom: Let There Be Carnage. And that means that the movie can’t be rated R.

But all the way back in 2018, producer Avi Arad told Collider that he didn’t think an R-rating would be necessary to tell Carnage's story. “When you hear Carnage, the only thing you can think of is [an R-rated movie]. But, if you know his story, if you really know the comic, there’s no [R-rating] here,” Arad stated.

Woody Harrelson will portray serial killer Cletus Kasady, who becomes host to an alien symbiote named Carnage. But according to Arad, the movie will be less focused on the actual carnage committed by Kasady, and more on his character's inner life. “He's a tortured soul. It's not about what he does, because we never have to show the knife going from here to there, and the blood is pouring. What you have to show is, what is the motivation? Was he born like that, or [is he] someone we should feel for, because if you succeeding in making a villain someone you can feel for, jackpot.”

Venom: Let There Be Carnage arrives in theaters on October 15, 2021, a whole year after it was originally scheduled for release.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage Trailer Easter Eggs

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