Venom: Let There Be Carnage's first reactions are in thanks to an early fan screening in London. The lucky fans who got a chance to view the film were so excited that they took to social media in order to share their feedback on the second film in Sony's Venom franchise.
Sony's first Venom film had a post-credits scene that teased the sequel's villain Cletus Kasady (played by Woody Harrelson), who is notorious for being one of Spider-Man's deadliest enemies. Unlike Eddie Brock or Venom, Kasady was a serial killer prior to contracting the symbiote parasite that gave him his superhuman abilities. Carnage is a deadly and lethal foe who will give Venom a run for his money, as often in the comics he had to team up with Spider-Man just to take Carnage down.
The reactions to the private screening of Venom: Let There Be Carnage appeared to be from fans as opposed to social influencers with verified Twitter accounts. This is a good sign, as there tends to be a bias or "on the fence" stance with responses from influencers for most early screenings. The tweets showed fans overwhelmed with excitement, fans with venom masks/arm sleeves, and tweets with a lot of exclamation marks. The enthusiasm for Venom 2 may not be what most fans expected considering the first film was met with mixed to negative reviews, despite it being a box office hit.
First reactions are always hit or miss, as sometimes they can lead fans to an idea of whether the film will be worth the wait or not. Shang-Chi's reactions, for example, were very positive prior to its release and now it appears to be doing very well in sales as well as reception, despite there still being many people hesitant on returning to theaters. Other films are a little harder to detect the film's quality, like The Conjuring 3 for example, as the initial reactions were positive but the film ended up with a mixed reception once it was released.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage brings fans one step closer into the world of Sony's Marvel universe, which will hopefully make its way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe despite being a much darker rendition of the comic world. The sooner it happens the better, as it may run the risk of becoming irreversible in terms of creative decisions. There's only so much that can be done within the context of the Marvel world before one of the many heroes set their attention on Eddie Brock.
Marvel has made big moves with its live-action films, so here's to hoping this continues on the Sony side by having a new director involved (Andy Serkis). For those who don't know, Serkis has an incredible amount of experience with CGI or motion capture acting and portraying characters that aren't even human (Star Wars' Snoke, King Kong, and Planet of the Apes' Caesar to name a few).
Venom: Let There Be Carnage will be in theaters on October 1, 2021.
Source: ComicBookMovie.Com