Look, I’ll come clean. I wanted this movie to be bad. Going into it, I was excited for its inevitable missteps, and I’ll tell you why. Even without seeing the movie, it’s clear how much Venom simply exists as an attempt by Sony Pictures to boost their bargaining power in their partnership-feud with Marvel Studios over Spider-Man (if you don’t know about the current situation on the ownership of Spider-Man’s film rights, read this). The mere concept—a film centered on an iconic Spider-Man antagonist, but with no Spider-Man in it, no reference to Spider-Man, and no introduction to said antagonist in a previous Spider-Man film—reeks of cash-grab and power play. Essentially, Sony knows they can’t make successful Spider-Man movies anymore. That’s why they lent the character back to Marvel Studios to make Spider-Man: Homecoming, which exists in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Iron Man and the gang. But Sony technically still own the rights to the character and all closely associated characters, and they’re going to do whatever they can to profit off of that ownership.
Venom
Venom
Venom
Look, I’ll come clean. I wanted this movie to be bad. Going into it, I was excited for its inevitable missteps, and I’ll tell you why. Even without seeing the movie, it’s clear how much Venom simply exists as an attempt by Sony Pictures to boost their bargaining power in their partnership-feud with Marvel Studios over Spider-Man (if you don’t know about the current situation on the ownership of Spider-Man’s film rights, read this). The mere concept—a film centered on an iconic Spider-Man antagonist, but with no Spider-Man in it, no reference to Spider-Man, and no introduction to said antagonist in a previous Spider-Man film—reeks of cash-grab and power play. Essentially, Sony knows they can’t make successful Spider-Man movies anymore. That’s why they lent the character back to Marvel Studios to make Spider-Man: Homecoming, which exists in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Iron Man and the gang. But Sony technically still own the rights to the character and all closely associated characters, and they’re going to do whatever they can to profit off of that ownership.