Sony Pictures Entertainment has released a trailer for the upcoming home video release of Venom that presents the movie as a romantic comedy — a move that makes perfect sense to anyone who spends too much time online, but might baffle everyone else.

The trailer is at the top of this post, so please watch it before you continue. It’s quite good!

Now, let’s talk about the history of the character, and how the movie was sold in China.

Sexy Venom sells tickets

Venom was originally a character created to help sell toys, but he later became a twisted, violent take on Spider-Man himself. So far, so good.

But Venom’s starring vehicle seemed to repopularize the idea that the alien symbiote and Eddie Brock were actually in a cute, romantic relationship. Fans thought Venom was sexy, and the movie didn’t mind being sexy in return.

Much of this fan reaction and conversation bubbled up from the deeper depths of the online world, however, so mainstream movie-goers may not have been aware at how horny the world had become for Venom.

The “Venom is a sexy boyfriend” idea didn’t stop in the United States, however, nor did it peak here. Sony itself marketed the movie as a romantic romp to Chinese audiences, and Venom went on to become a huge hit in the Chinese market.

The movie has now brought in over $822 million worldwide, That makes it a huge success for Sony, which is quite the achievement, since Venom is one of the strangest superhero films of the modern era.

These are from Sony Pictures’ official Chinese Weibo account, explaining why Venom would make a good boyfriend.



I kinda want THIS movie. pic.twitter.com/xQzouqN5Pb — Darren Mooney (@Darren_Mooney) September 25, 2018

“The real lessons here are that Sony potentially missed out on piles of domestic, box-office cash because it didn’t lean into the monster boyfriend angle hard enough in the US, and that a powerful Chinese box office — no matter the reason — can turn a movie into a box office monster,” Vox reported.

Which is how we got here: an official, American trailer playing up the fact that Venom just wants to be your sweet, thoughtful boyfriend. The film itself doesn’t support this reading of the character, but box office returns of this size don’t lie. People love it the idea that an alien monster might actually be a sexy, lovable scamp.

Venom will be available digitally on Dec. 11, with 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD versions hitting on Dec. 18.