'Venom' is rated PG-13 because Sony reportedly wants Spider-Man and Venom to 'face off' in the future

"Venom" is officially rated PG-13, not R as some fans expected.
According to Erik Davis, managing editor of Fandango, it's so that "Venom and Spider-Man can face off at some point down the line."
Sony's deal with Marvel Studios allows Sony to develop its own Spider-Man movies while the character is included in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It looks like some fans aren't getting the R-rated "Venom" movie they anticipated.

"Venom," which comes to theaters next month, is officially rated PG-13. According to Erik Davis, the managing editor of movie-ticketing website Fandango, it's because the studio, Sony, wants the character to meet the more family-friendly Spider-Man in future movies.

Davis tweeted on Thursday, "#Venom

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The "X-Men" franchise has managed to balance both PG-13 rated and more violent R-rated movies like "Logan" and "Deadpool," but it appears that Sony doesn't want to take that risk with "Venom."

Venom is one of Spider-Man's most popular villains in the comics books, but has also been depicted as an anti-hero, and that seems to be the direction the movie is going. The character debuted in 1984 and was first portrayed on the big screen by Topher Grace in "Spider-Man 3."

Sony, which has held onto the Spider-Man film right since 2002's "Spider-Man," made a deal with Marvel Studios in 2015 in which Marvel could include its own version of Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (played by Tom Holland) while Sony retained distribution rights and final creative control over "Spider-Man" films. That means Sony was still free to develop movies based on Spider-Man characters while the wallcrawler himself showed up in the MCU.

It also means that there's a possibility for Spider-Man to show up in a "Venom" movie, or any other Sony-developed Spider-Man movie. There's a lot of questions that would raise though: Would Sony cast its own Spider-Man separate from Holland's version? Would Holland reprise his role as the character, and would that mean the movies would be part of the MCU?

Those questions aren't likely to be answered any time soon, but audiences can expect a light "Venom" movie in the meantime.

"Venom" comes to theaters October 5.