Actor Tom Hardy really wanted Venom to stay true to its dark and bloody Marvel Comics origins and go for an R rating. Sadly, this didn’t happen, but the insane movie that resulted still managed to please plenty of fans to the tune of $856 million at the global box office. Now, thanks to the recent success of Joker, and the past box office performances of R-rated comic book movies like Deadpool and Logan, the Venom 2 filmmakers are feeling somewhat better about the sequel’s eventual rating.

At least, that’s according to what producer Matt Tolmach told Cinemablend in a recent interview. After acknowledging the fact the first “movie worked really well” and the “franchise exists as it is,” he said the Venom 2 team wasn’t specifically setting out to make an R-rated film. However, thanks to Joker and company, it is a subject that’s on everyone’s minds:

“I think what Joker does is it tells you that you can succeed. For a very long time, that was the narrative. And Deadpool sort of wrestled that to the turf, and then Logan, but for a long time, that was considered totally forbidden. … So you know, I think it’s the greatest thing in the world that R-rated movies are being embraced by massive audiences. And it just means that there are more opportunities for that kind of storytelling.”

On the one hand, it’s kind of weird to hear or read someone saying “it’s the greatest thing in the world that R-rated movies are being embraced,” because such a general declaration includes weird titles like Eyes Wide Shut. On the other hand, considering how Venom 2 not only features Hardy’s return, but also Andy Serkis as director and potentially two very violent villains from the comics, this has all the ingredients necessary to make a motion-captured spectacular rife with all kinds of savage symbiote action.

(Via Cinemablend)