Sight unseen, Venom is undoubtedly one of the most bizarre big-budget projects to come out of Hollywood in a long time. Doing a movie about the famous Marvel villain isn't a radical idea in and of itself- in fact, this is a film that has been in development hell for quite a long time. But it's the way that Venom came together so quickly and unexpectedly (it was fast-tracked out of nowhere) that makes almost no sense, coupled with the presence of a shockingly talented cast. When Sony agreed to team up with Marvel Studios on Spider-Man: Homecoming, many assumed that Sony was all but finished with the web-slinger and his universe. Instead, they have an animated Spider-Man film from producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller in theaters this December, and they abruptly announced Venom early last year. So yeah, it looks like Sony wants to stay in the superhero game. With Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer behind the camera and Tom Hardy in the lead role, there's definitely potential for this R-rated action flick to be a surprise hit. Hoping to get the trailer in front of next week's Black Panther, Sony has released a short teaser for Venom online. Watch it below!
If you've been on Twitter this morning, you already know that most people are pretty unhappy with this trailer. I'll join the chorus of naysayers- it's certainly not a great first look at a project that's already pretty risky. More than anything, this is an announcement trailer, and I don't understand why Sony has gone that route. Venom isn't Star Wars. The character doesn't have the marketing power of Batman, or Superman, or even Spider-Man. You can't just show the logo with some vague voiceover and expect audiences to show up. Some people have been comparing it to the teaser trailer for The Dark Knight that came out in mid-2007, but it's just not the same scenario. That was a sequel to one of the most acclaimed comic book films of all time, while this is a one-off project that has seemed thoroughly odd from the get-go.
Ultimately, there's just nothing of substance here, and the fact that they only show a logo instead of the actual title is a baffling choice, one that will surely lead to some confused audience members at Black Panther next weekend. There are definitely some cool shots on display- Riz Ahmed looks wonderfully evil, the presence of Michelle Williams in this movie is encouraging, and I like the whole body horror vibe. But they probably should have waited to release any kind of footage. According to IMDb, production just wrapped at the start of February, so there really wasn't much ready to show at all. Hopefully whatever we see next is a little more encouraging.
Venom opens in theaters on October 5.
Image courtesy of Sony
If you've been on Twitter this morning, you already know that most people are pretty unhappy with this trailer. I'll join the chorus of naysayers- it's certainly not a great first look at a project that's already pretty risky. More than anything, this is an announcement trailer, and I don't understand why Sony has gone that route. Venom isn't Star Wars. The character doesn't have the marketing power of Batman, or Superman, or even Spider-Man. You can't just show the logo with some vague voiceover and expect audiences to show up. Some people have been comparing it to the teaser trailer for The Dark Knight that came out in mid-2007, but it's just not the same scenario. That was a sequel to one of the most acclaimed comic book films of all time, while this is a one-off project that has seemed thoroughly odd from the get-go.
Ultimately, there's just nothing of substance here, and the fact that they only show a logo instead of the actual title is a baffling choice, one that will surely lead to some confused audience members at Black Panther next weekend. There are definitely some cool shots on display- Riz Ahmed looks wonderfully evil, the presence of Michelle Williams in this movie is encouraging, and I like the whole body horror vibe. But they probably should have waited to release any kind of footage. According to IMDb, production just wrapped at the start of February, so there really wasn't much ready to show at all. Hopefully whatever we see next is a little more encouraging.
Venom opens in theaters on October 5.
Image courtesy of Sony
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