Ever since Sony’s Venom film was first announced, rampant speculation surrounded its targeted MPAA rating. Ultimately, Sony decided to stick with PG-13 (BBFC-15 in the UK), which has spawned debate among some Venom fans.
In an interview with MTV, Venom star Tom Hardy himself chimed in on the matter, explaining that the character is in a rather tricky place when it comes to demographics, as well as the fact that a Venom franchise could really go either way moving forward and that both roads are equally valid.
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“Is it going to be R-Rated? That’s the big question and the answers been answered, isn’t it? It’s a PG-13 in the States, but — to be fair — the thing can fulcrum into R-Rated and fulcrum into youth or children,” he explained. “My littlest ones, they watch Spider-Man and Venom quite comfortably and Venom toys appear and LEGO appear in my nostril every morning, so it’s not like they’re scared by him, and at the same time there’s a lot in the real estate that you can actually imbue with a complete sense of gratuitous violence if you really wanted to, and I think you’ve got the right people for that job if you want to push it. ‘Course, that’s where I want to go with it.”
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Given the fact that Sony seems more dedicated than ever to flesh out their Spider-Verse and that Tom Hardy is technically signed on for two more Venom films, it’s definitely still possible for the studio to give the character an R-rating at some point in the future. On the other hand, Hardy also expressed interest in taking Venom to the Marvel Cinematic Universe at some point, which lends itself more to the PG-13 world.
Debuting in theaters on Oct. 5, Venom is directed by Ruben Fleischer and stars Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock/Venom, Michelle Williams as Anne Weying, Riz Ahmed as Carlton Drake/Riot, Scott Haze, Reid Scott, Jenny Slate,Woody Harrelson, Sope Aluko, Scott Deckert, Marcella Bragio, Michelle Lee, Mac Brandt, Christian Convery, Sam Medina and Ron Cephas Jones.