Whenever talk of a Venom movie has come up over the years, the vast majority of fans have argued that it should receive an R-Rating. During production on the one that arrives in theaters next week, there were plenty of hints from those involved that it wouldn't receive a kid-friendly PG-13 label but both director Ruben Fleischer and producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach have confirmed that the plan was for Venom to always embrace moviegoers of all ages. Here's what Arad said about the decision:
"To me, R is not a consideration. Can you get away with not R so that other people can see? So that younger people can see? I made an animated show. There was a lot of Venom in there. It was in '94. There's no reason to put in violence. To define what Venom is as violence. He's not. He's the lethal protector, which is a very different thing. We want to be really true to the comics. Today, in CGI and stuff, we can make Venom bite your head. But we don't have to show the head going side to side like, 'that actually tastes good.' It's irrelevant. What's relevant is that you finally understood, is that a bad guy? Yeah."
Tolmach went on to say that despite rumours to the contrary, there are no plans for an R-Rated cut of the movie to be released, mostly because an adult orientated version doesn't actually exist right now.
"There isn't some phantom version of the movie. Everyone is asking us that. Is there an R-rated cut sitting there? There isn't. We came into this production and the development of the movie wanting to make a movie that was true to Venom, true to the comics, and true to the character, but at the same time is a movie that 13-year-olds, 14-year-olds can see. We had to push right up against it. We're 15+ in England. It's not like we just wanted to make a family film. We wanted to push it as hard as we could, but also to make it accessible. That was always the goal."
Fleischer adds that he doesn't believe the character has been compromised despite the PG-13 rating and while many comic books starring the character have indeed embraced blood and guts, Venom isn't quite The Punisher, and his adventures can work in this type of setting as a result. What do you guys think about these remarks? Do you think the movie should have been R-Rated? As always, be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments section and stay tuned for further updates this week.
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