Venom: Let There Be Carnage features one of the most exciting crossovers in movie history. But we’re not talking about the unexpected appearance of Tom Holland’s MCU Spider-Man. We’re talking about a crossover we had no idea even happened. The film wasn’t the only big budget movie shooting in San Francisco at the time. And the Golden City’s busy Hollywood schedule resulted in The Matrix Resurrections‘s helicopters looking for everyone’s favorite symbiote in a subtle Venom and Matrix crossover.
Sony/Warner Bros.
The location manager for Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Christopher Kusiak, told Screenrant (in an interview we first learned about at io9) how the movie ended up including helicopters used in the newest installment of The Matrix franchise. Both movies filmed at the same time in San Francisco. which generally led to issues for the Venom team. Keanu Reeves and crew’s presence meant Sony’s movie had to move certain scenes to different locations than Let There be Carnage wanted to use. But one instance of simultaneous productions led to movie-making gold.
During the sequence when Venom and Eddie run from the authorities, helicopters circle in the night sky. Presumably those whirly birds went out looking for the brain-eating alien. In reality, those helicopters were up in the sky for the other movie shooting nearby. “The Matrix was filming at the same time so we were catching part of their activity on camera,” said Kusiek.
That’s a wonderful moment of cinematic serendipity. If he hadn’t said anything we’d never in a million years know those helicopters were doing anything other than looking for Venom. They work seamlessly with the exact sequence going on in Let There Be Carnage at that moment.
Does this Venom and Matrix crossover mean the two movies share a single universe? No, of course not. That won’t be true until The Matrix Resurrections has a post-credits scene where Neo wakes up in the MCU to help Peter Parker fight everyone’s favorite symbiote.
