"Venom: The Last Dance" Will Be Final Movie in Franchise

The third installment of the “Venom” franchise, “Venom: The Last Dance” will be the final entry in the Tom Hardy-led franchise.

Speaking with Deadline, the company's CEO Tom Rothwell shared how Sony plans to give all its films everything to ensure they're as successful and "huge" as possible. 

He stressed the importance of finding a great script and director to attract the best talent and push a new entrant or big IP sequels to achieve their best. 

Rothwell also talked about the biggest IP films in various stages of development at Sony and revealed Venom 3 would be the last.

"The larger point I’m making is that I think a healthy slate going forward is not going to be one side of the divide or the other. It’s going to have a balance of big IP solid sequels. Let me tell you when the last of the Spider-Verse movies comes with Phil Lord and Chris Miller, it’s going to be a significant event, as will the next Tom Holland Spider-Man film. And when all the Karate Kid storylines come together with Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan and a new young karate kid. For those fans, that’s going to be a significant moment. We have those. The third and last Venom , is going to be huge."

He shared how the studio plans to capture as many audience types as possible. While some may be excited about the next movie in their favorite franchise, others want something fresh and adventurous that could be the beginning of another franchise. It is all about striking a balance, something he iterated.

"But I just believe that the real win for us is to have a slate that balances those movies with some of the more adventurous stuff," he added. "There’s a significant segment of the audience out there, which is underserved for adventurousness. They’re underserved for newness, they’re underserved for cultural urgency."

Plot details are still under wraps, but Hardy will return as the lethal protector Eddie Brock/Venom in the film, also starring Juno Temple, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Clark Backo.

Kelly Marcel will make her feature directorial debut with the project. She also wrote the screenplay from a story she developed with Hardy. Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, Amy Pascal, Hutch Parker, Marcel, and Hardy are producing.

The first two “Venom” movies (2018’s “Venom,” helmed by Ruben Fleischer, and the 2021 sequel “Let There Be Carnage,” directed by Andy Serkis) earned a combined $1.3 billion at the box office.

Sony first announced the third movie was in the works during its CinemaCon presentation in April 2022. The project will be the first appearance of Venom since a credits sequence cameo in 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”

In February, Temple opened up about the project to Variety, teasing that production was almost complete. 

“We’re coming close to an end at the moment,” she said. “It’s been a wild, wonderful ride. It’s so new to me. It’s a big set! This is crazy. It’s been so much fun and I got to work with such cool people. I’ve been so lucky in my career to just have the most incredible casts. I can’t wait for it to get out into the world. I think it’s going to be a good one.”

Production on “Venom 3” was halted by last year's SAG-AFTRA strike but cameras started rolling again at the end of November.

“Venom: The Last Dance” is set to release on October 25, in premium large formats and IMAX.