Venom: The Last Dance had a hard time hitting a home run at the domestic box office, but more than made up for the deficit overseas to boast a worldwide opening on par with the last installment. Nor did it have any trouble coming in No. 1 both domestically and globally.
The final title in Sony’s franchise — based on the popular comic book antihero — opened to $51 million from 4,131 theaters in North America, well behind an expected $65 million, or the $90 million domestic launch of Venom: Let There Be Carnage. The opposite was true overseas, where Last Dance debuted in line with expectations with $124 million for a global start of $175 million against a relatively modest budget of $120 million. It slithered to $46 million in China, the best showing for a superhero movie since 2019 and the best showing of the year to date for a Hollywood title.
On Saturday, it looked as if Last Dance might actually get to $180 million globally, five percent better than 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage. But that didn’t materialize, although numbers could shift again by the the time final international grosses are tallied Monday. Either way, Sony and its financing partners, including TSG, say they are in good shape.
In the U.S., there’s no doubt that the World Series showdown between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees impacted the box office — particularly in the West — but L.A. and New York still led all markets for Venom 3. Insiders close to the film are also worried that people are distracted by early Halloween parties. It’s not uncommon for threequels to fall off, but no one on the Venom team is happy about the severity of the decline as comic book fatigue rears its ugly head again..
In North America, the first Venom opened to $80.2 million in 2018, then a record for October. It lost the crown a year later to Joker ($96.2 million). Let There Be Carnage‘s $90 million debut in October 2021 was a boon for theater owners who were still recovering from the pandemic, and a major win for Sony. Exhibitors were also counting on The Last Dance to bring in robust traffic after a tough October 2024 (some thought it would even get to $70 million).
The fanboy-fueled series has never been a hit with critics, as the latest installment landed on Rotten Tomatoes with a 37 percent critics score and earned a franchise-worse B- CinemaScore from audiences.
Directed by Kelly Marcel, Venom 3 stars Tom Hardy, who returns in the titular role. Hardy also co-wrote the script with Marcel, his longtime creative partner, who makes her directorial debut with the feature.
Paramount and Temple Hill’s Smile 2 placed second in its sophomore outing, falling 59 percent to $9.4 million for a 10-day domestic cume of $40.7 million. (Saturday’s estimates showed the horror pic coming in higher, underscoring the impact of the World Series on the overall marketplace.)
Awards contenders targeting older audiences fared better.
Headed for third base is Edward Berger’s Oscar contender Conclave, the weekend’s other new nationwide opener. The acclaimed Vatican-set thriller about the election of a new pope opened to an estimated $6.5 million from 1,753 cinemas, the best wide opening to date for a specialty film vying in this year’s awards race.
Produced and financed by FilmNation and Indian Paintbrush, the movie’s all-star cast includes Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini. The Universal-owned Focus Features is distributing the film domestically. More than 44 percent of the audience was 55 and older, a staggering number. The movie overperformed in major Catholic markets including Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston, among others. Also, the World Series games on the East Coast didn’t start until 8 p.m., meaning moviegoers had plenty of time to see an afternoon or early evening showing.
Universal is reporting that Conclave is all but tied for third place with DreamWorks Animation/Universal’s The Wild Robot, which earned an estimated $6.5 million from 3,427 theaters in its fifth weekend.
A24’s specialty film We Live in Time, which continued to expand, rounded out the top five with an estimated $4.8 million from 2,924 cinemas for a domestic cume of $11.8 million, the best showing of 2024 to date for a platform release, according to the indie distributor. John Crowley directed the romantic drama starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh.
Elsewhere at the awards box office, Sean Baker and Neon’s Anora continued to impress in a major way as it expanded into a total of 34 theaters to report the top per-location average of the weekend ($25,504).
Oct. 27, 8:20 a.m. Updated with revised estimates.
This story was originally published Oct. 26 at 9:25 a.m.
