Venom (2018 film)

Venom
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ruben Fleischer
Screenplay by	Jeff Pinkner Scott Rosenberg Kelly Marcel
Story by	Jeff Pinkner Scott Rosenberg
Based on	Marvel Comics
Produced by	Avi Arad Matt Tolmach Amy Pascal
Starring	Tom Hardy Michelle Williams Riz Ahmed Scott Haze Reid Scott
Cinematography	Matthew Libatique
Edited by	Maryann Brandon Alan Baumgarten
Music by	Ludwig Göransson
Production companies	Columbia Pictures Marvel Entertainment Tencent Pictures Arad Productions[1] Matt Tolmach Productions[1] Pascal Pictures[1]
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Releasing
Release dates	October 1, 2018 (2018-10-01) (Regency Village Theater) October 5, 2018 (2018-10-05) (United States)
Running time	112 minutes[2]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$100–116 million[3]
Box office	$856.1 million[4]

Venom is a 2018 American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character of the same name, produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Tencent Pictures, Marvel,^[5] Arad Productions, Matt Tolmach Productions, and Pascal Pictures, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. The first film in Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU), it was directed by Ruben Fleischer from a screenplay by the writing team of Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg, along with Kelly Marcel. It stars Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock and Venom alongside Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, and Reid Scott. In the film, struggling journalist Eddie gains superpowers after becoming the host of an alien symbiote, Venom, whose species plans to invade Earth.

After Venom's appearance in Spider-Man 3 (2007), Sony attempted to develop a spin-off film based on the character, which was stalled (due to issues with the company's ongoing Spider-Man franchise). In March 2016, work began on a new version that would start a new shared universe featuring the non-Spider-Man Marvel characters that the studio possessed film rights to. Sony also intended for the Venom film to share the world of Marvel Cinematic Universe's Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), but ultimately distanced the film from Spider-Man. In March 2017, Rosenberg and Pinkner were set to write, with Fleischer and Hardy added in May; Marcel subsequently joined to rewrite the script. Filming took place from October 2017 to January 2018 in Atlanta, New York City, and San Francisco. The film was primarily inspired by the comic book miniseries Venom: Lethal Protector (1993) and the story arc "Planet of the Symbiotes" (1995). Ludwig Göransson was hired to compose the film's score, marking his second Marvel film after Black Panther (2018).

Venom premiered at the Regency Village Theater on October 1, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 5. Despite being negatively received by critics, Hardy's performance and the character's relationship with Venom was praised, and the film became the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2018, earning over $856 million worldwide and setting several box office records for an October release. It is followed by two sequels: Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which was released on October 1, 2021, and Venom: The Last Dance, which is scheduled for release on October 25, 2024.