How Politics Affects Superhero Flicks: ‘Venom 3’ Changed Release Dates Due to Elections, Reports Say

A few weeks ago, it was announced that the latest SSU entry, ‘Venom: The Last Dance’ will be released on October 25, which is quite a shift from its previous release date, scheduled on November 8, 2024.

Shifting release dates are nothing new for movies but in most cases, the movies in question get delayed and not advanced, which was quite a surprise. Fans did not however question at the time, and now the latest report from Variety, points in the direction that the movie shifted its release date due to upcoming US elections.

During election seasons, particularly around major elections like presidential elections, media coverage can dominate public attention. Movies may choose to avoid releasing during this time to ensure they don’t compete for audience attention with election-related news and events. Marketing costs a pretty penny, sometimes further bloating the development costs, so it doesn’t make all that much sense to compete with one of the biggest marketing & P.R. machines in the country.

There’s also the question of the themes of the movie, while this is certainly not the case with ‘The Last Dance,’ movies that have sensitive political themes may opt-out to avoid the election season. This is something mentioned in the text as well:

If people either legitimately or accidentally read a political bias in something, it screws up the marketing plan. It was hard enough before people got extremely sensitive about every little thing.

The first week of November currently lacks major movie releases, with the next significant releases scheduled for later in the month, such as ‘Gladiator 2’ on November 22, followed by ‘Wicked’ and ‘Moana 2’ on November 27. A studio executive suggests that releasing new material during the week of the election would be challenging due to the overshadowing noise and lack of attention from the audience.

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