I have sent countless warning shots to Sony over the past year begging them, no pleading with them, to not cower down and give "Venom" a PG-13 rating instead of the R rating it deserves. There is no way around it, Venom cannot be rated PG-13. It would be a disservice to the comic book and it would be a great disservice to the fans.
According to Variety, even though many, including myself, assumed that the film would be R-rated, Sony is now planning on releasing “Venom” as PG-13. Good God. The report stresses the concern of what an R-rating could do in damaging box-office prospects. Oy vey. Sony is clearly not going the “Logan” and “Deadpool” route here. They are playing it safe, folks.
What I find rather strange is that most of the cast and crew have been saying an R-rating was the plan. Director Ruben Fleischer was even quoted in saying [via ComicBook.com]“That’s the plan. It is not the plan, that’s the movie. Our movie wants to honor the comics as close as we can tonally. In the comics, he bites people’s heads off and eats brains. It would be weird to make a movie with Venom if he wasn’t doing that. We tried to honor it as closely as possible. This is definitely a darker, more violent, more vicious Marvel character than I think anyone’s ever seen before.”
The real kicker from the Variety report is this quote
from Sanford Panitch, president of Columbia Pictures.“We’re focused on being faithful to the comics.” Gimme a break. You're not being faithful to Venom with a PG-13 rating. You're being ignorant to the spirit of the character.
from Sanford Panitch, president of Columbia Pictures.“We’re focused on being faithful to the comics.” Gimme a break. You're not being faithful to Venom with a PG-13 rating. You're being ignorant to the spirit of the character.
Lubezki’s participation in the film doesn’t seem so far-fetched when you realize that he was also the DP on Stiller’s “Reality Bites,” way back in 1994. They haven’t worked together since.