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Perhaps the most intriguing comic book movie hitting theaters this year is Venom. The solo film for the iconic villain and occasional anti-hero will give the fan-favorite character another chance onscreen after the misfire of Spider-Man 3 while also being Sony's first solo outing into the Spider-verse. There are a lot of unknowns about Venom and we have only seen a little bit of the movie and the main character so far, but there is clearly a ton of interest. So much interest that the Venom trailer has actually been viewed way more times than the trailers for any previous Spider-Man film.
This may sound ridiculous and unlikely but the Venom trailer, which debuted back on April 23rd, has in two months already amassed far more views on YouTube than any other Spider-Man movie. As for the breakdown, the view counts for the trailers for The Amazing Spider-Man (3D) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 currently sit at 13 million and 37 million respectively. Peter Parker's return to the MCU in Spider-Man: Homecoming was long awaited, and that trailer has 27 million views. Sony's other Spidey property coming this fall, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, has a positively brilliant trailer that currently has a mere 25 million views. As for Venom, well, Eddie Brock is putting a beating on Peter Parker in the YouTube view battle with a whopping 64 million views for the official trailer. That is pretty absurd given Spider-Man's popularity.
As for the first three Spider-Man movies that were at the vanguard of our current comic book movie age, they simply came before YouTube was what it now is and that may account for the numbers. Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 released in 2002 and 2004 respectively, before YouTube was founded in 2005. Spider-Man 3 came out in 2007, but that was still way before YouTube was a go-to destination for movie trailers, cat videos and people making stupid faces on thumbnails.
Obviously, there are many ways for people to view and download trailers nowadays besides YouTube, so this only applies to that specific platform and doesn't represent a complete picture, but I don't think it is a stretch to say that YouTube is the primary channel through which people watch trailers. This makes this performance by the Venom trailer quite interesting. So why has the Venom trailer been viewed so many times? There are several possibilities.
Perhaps many fans are just re-watching the trailer over and over to try to acclimate themselves to the pronunciation of 'symbiote' so as to prevent cringing during the actual movie. Maybe some people have picked up on what Elizabeth Banks noticed about Venom's tongue and they just can't stop looking at it. More likely, I think, is simply that Venom is probably Spider-Man's most recognizable and fan-favorite villain and lots of people want to see this character done right on the big screen. We are in the age of anti-heroes and a cool-looking one played by Tom Hardy is a potent combination. There is a ton of curiosity around this movie, too, and many (including myself) are likely wondering what this movie will look like and how Sony's Spider-Verse will operate without fully integrating with Tom Holland's MCU Spider-Man.
Whatever the reason, it is clear there is a lot of interest for Venom, so hopefully this film delivers and capitalizes on that when it hits theaters on October 5th. For all the biggest movies releasing this year, check out our full guide.
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