Venom: Let There Be Carnage delayed until September

Eddie Brock and his Symbiote alter-ego won’t be heading back to theaters in June. Instead, Venom: Let There Be Carnage has been pushed back to Sept. 17, Sony Pictures announced on Wednesday evening.

While dozens of movies have been delayed over the last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, there was likely another factor in Venom 2’s move. Last month, Universal Pictures announced that it was moving the release date of F9, the latest Fast and Furious movie, to June 25 — the same day Venom 2 was originally scheduled to premiere.

While the pandemic may still be a factor in Sony’s decision, studios seem more optimistic than ever that theaters will return to normal in the near future. Earlier this month, Paramount Pictures announced that it was moving up the release of A Quiet Place Part II, one of its biggest blockbusters of the year, from September to May. In another example of release-date Tetris, A Quiet Place Part II’s previously announced release date was Sept. 17, the new date for Venom 2.

With studios trying to find space, without overlapping, to release all the big movies they had to delay in 2020, it’s likely that both this year and next will continue to involve a lot of shifting schedules for blockbusters.

One thing we still don’t know about Venom: Let There Be Carnage is what exactly the movie is about, in part because we still haven’t seen a trailer for it. Based on the title and the post-credits scene from the original movie, we can surmise that it’s going to heavily feature Woody Harrelson’s Cletus Kasady as the human host for the symbiote Carnage, but that’s about all we can guess.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage will also see Tom Hardy return as Eddie Brock and Venom, along with Michelle Williams. Andy Serkis has been brought in to direct the sequel.