Credit: Sony PicturesSony Pictures’ corner of the Marvel Universe, otherwise known as the SSU, is off to a rough start in 2024. Madame Web (2024), the Dakota Johnson-fronted Spider-Man spinoff, is on track to becoming the studio’s lowest-grossing superhero flick of all time, while fans aren’t exactly optimistic about Kraven the Hunter (2024). But can Tom Hardy’s Venom 3 (2024) save the SSU for good?
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There’s no denying that the superhero genre has struggled to find its footing in recent years, with Sony Entertainment, DC Studios, and Marvel Studios all suffering box office bombs. The Marvels (2023), for one, became the biggest flop in MCU history, while DC’s Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023) failed to make back its estimated $125 million production budget.
Although Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige have announced their plans to scale back on MCU content, and Warner Bros. has handed over the reins to James Gunn and Peter Safran for a total DCU reboot, things still aren’t looking too good for superhero blockbusters in 2024, if the colossal failure of Sony’s Madame Web is anything to go by.
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On top of earning abysmal ratings (the movie currently sits at a 12% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes), Madame Web has made just $6 million domestically and $10.5 million internationally — even less than Jared Leto’s disastrous vampire flick, Morbius (2022).
But thankfully, one project Sony currently has in the pipeline could save the SSU from certain doom: Tom Hardy’s Venom 3.
As the threequel, which will follow the adventures of journalist Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote, Venom, gets closer to its fall release date, star Juno Temple recently offered a hopeful update about the film while speaking with Variety during last night’s SAG Awards, where she expressed her feeling that the movie will be “a good one:”
We’re coming close to an end at the moment. It’s been a wild, wonderful ride. It’s so new to me. It’s a big set! This is crazy. It’s been so much fun and I got to work with such cool people. I’ve been so lucky in my career to just have the most incredible casts. I can’t wait for it to get out into the world. I think it’s going to be a good one.
Although Venom (2018) and Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) weren’t exactly a hit with critics, the franchise has proven reliable for Sony. The first entry earned over $856 million worldwide and set several box office records for an October release, while its sequel grossed $506.9 million, becoming the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2021.
Little remains known about Venom 3 and its story, but in terms of its box office odds, things are looking up for the threequel, which will seemingly mark Hardy’s “last dance” as the titular antihero. The only other confirmed cast members are Temple, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Clark Backo, though their exact roles remain unknown, with Kelly Marcel directing.
The film was also subject to some lengthy delays after production was put on pause last year due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Its original release date of July 11, 2024, was pushed back, with the blockbuster now slated to arrive in November.
If Venom 3 really is the last time we’ll see Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock, then Sony and Marvel are going to have a hard time finding his replacement should a reboot ever ensue — according to Juno Temple, that is.
The Ted Lasso alum had some high praise for Hardy’s portrayal of the title character, telling the same outlet, “His relationship to how he feels about Venom and Eddie together…it’s something that feels really close to his heart. It matters to him. I don’t know if anyone else could play Venom. That’s a tough pair of shoes to follow.”
Temple certainly isn’t wrong in saying Hardy embodies the same type of chaotic energy as his onscreen hero, and fans would almost certainly protest the Peaky Blinders veteran being replaced for future projects down the line.
For now, it’s impossible to say if Venom 3 is the end of the road for Eddie Brock and his alien alter-ego, as Tom Holland’s Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) did set up his MCU introduction. While this specific plot point has yet to be explored onscreen, the upcoming Venom threequel could provide audiences with some much-needed answers. Only time will tell.
Venom 3 arrives in theaters on November 8, 2024.
Are you looking forward to Venom 3? Do you think Sony should continue the character’s story in the future? Let us know in the comments below!