Posted in: Movies, Sony, Venom | Tagged: movies, sony, Venom 3

Andy Serkis Explains Why He Decided Not To Direct Venom 3

Sony Pictures spent many years trying to get a Venom movie off the ground, and in 2018 they finally succeeded. The film got critically mauled though it was beloved by fans and gained a weird but amusing cult following after amassing over $800 million at the worldwide box office. Venom: Let There Be Carnage was not nearly on the same level as the first movie though it was far from a flop. It was one of the many movies caught up in COVID-19 delays and eventually came out in September 2021. The reviews were slightly better, but the fan response wasn't as great. Andy Serkis was the one who took over directing duties for the second movie, and he seemed like a natural fit for a movie like this because so many characters were motion capture. As previously stated, it was critically better than the first movie, but it got caught up in the COVID-19 delays, which messed with the release time. We learned recently that Kelly Marcel, who was a writer on the first two Venom movies, would be directing Venom 3.  /Film recently spoke to Serkis, and he explained why he decided not to come back to direct the third movie in the franchise, and time plays a pretty big role.

"Look, I had a ball doing [Venom: Let There Be Carnage]. Tom Hardy is such a good friend of mine, and I felt very proud of the work, and we had such fun doing it. To be the custodian of that franchise for a little while was great. I've got so many projects that I was just about to [work on], like 'Animal Farm' for instance. We were just about to go into production with that, and then we delayed as 'Venom' came up. I really have to be very on top of the ones that I've been building to do for such a long time. But I'm really delighted that Kelly's doing that. She's so in control of that material with Tom. The pair of them are such a great team to work with. I'm really excited to see what they're going to come up with."

Kelly Marcel Helped Bring The First Two Movies To Life; Now She Will Direct Venom 3

Marcel has been on the ground with the Venom movies since the first one, and for all the criticisms we might have about the films one way or another, it seems like her and star Tom Hardy work well together. When it was announced that Marcel would be directing, Deadline had sources that said, "Hardy and Marcel have always been on the same page when it comes to shaping Venom's story and that heading into the final chapter, the two were step in step with what direction they wanted this final chapter to head." Marcel isn't stepping away from writing duties to take up directing, though; she will be directing the movie from a screenplay written by herself and a story from herself and Hardy. The usual suspects at Sony Pictures, Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, Amy Pascal, and Hutch Parker, are also producing. We don't have any further details about this movie yet, not even if any other cast members from previous films will be returning, but maybe now that Venom 3 has secured a director, we can start to learn more. They announced the movie at CinemaCon 2022; maybe the Sony presentation at CinemaCon 2023 in April will be where we get some real details on this film. So far, Venom is the only, not Spider-Man character Sony has made work on any level, so it's not surprising they are continuing to lean in.

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