The helicopters seen in ‘Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage’ are not actually hunting Venom and Eddie, but were part of the nearby ‘The Matrix 4’ filming in San Francisco. The city has long been a filming magnet and February of 2020 was no exception—both ‘Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage’ and ‘The Matrix 4’ had cameras rolling simultaneously. ‘The Matrix 4’ began filming first though; leaving ‘Venom 2’ to work around them after ‘The Matrix 4’ had essentially taken over the city.
In the scene from ‘Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage’, Eddie Brock and ‘Venom’ have fled to the top of San Francisco’s iconic Coit Tower. Helicopters are seen in the background, scouring the city, and ‘Venom’ and Eddie mention the police pursuit, so it is assumed the helicopters are searching for them. The helicopters, however, were part of the forthcoming ‘Matrix’ film.
‘Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage’ Location Manager Christopher Kusiak discusses how having two major blockbusters filming in the city at the same time did lead to some issues. Specifically, Venom 2 missed some locations simply because ‘The Matrix 4’ was filming there first. In the case of the helicopters, though, having ‘The Matrix 4’ in town was actually a benefit.
As The Matrix 4’s release date is set for December 22, it is unclear what scene from the franchise’s newest edition was being filmed at the time. Various alerts were issued from AlertSF over the course of filming that included helicopters conducting flyovers. Additionally, the filming of ‘The Matrix 4’ has spurred dozens of videos on social media with stunt doubles flying off buildings and working their way through the city on motorcycles, so it is unclear exactly which elaborate ‘Matrix 4’ stunt is seen in the background during the scene in ‘Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage’. -Screen Rant
