In theaters now: ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’

After multiple pandemic delays, Venom: Let There Be Carnage is now in theaters.

The sequel to the critically-panned but $856 million-plus-grossing 2018 movie Venom again stars Tom Hardy as journalist Eddie Brock, who shares a body with the shape-shifting, trash-talking alien symbiote, Venom.

This time around, the Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man universe spin-off sees the unlikely pair having to face off with another of their kind: Woody Harrelson‘s serial killer Cletus Kasady, who infects himself with Eddie’s blood to get his own symbiote, Carnage. 

But before Eddie and Venom can fight Carnage, they need to stop fighting each other.

“In this movie, it’s like the ‘seven-year-itch’ cycle of the relationship,” director Andy Serkis says. “You’ve got two characters who are literally stuck with each other — that Odd Couple relationship was what this movie was always going to be about.”

“They have had enough of each other,” Serkis says with a smile. “Watching Tom as Venom and Eddie and was so much fun,” the Marvel movie and Lord of the Rings series veteran says. 

Venom: Let There Be Carnage also stars returning player Michelle Williams, Spidey series star J.K. Simmons, and 007 movie alumna Naomi Harris.

The film’s off to a good start: it earned $11.6 million in Thursday night previews in the U.S., putting it ahead of preview numbers for F9 and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and only a few million behind Black Widow.