Venom 3 Exceeds Box Office and Opens Way Behind Expectations

“Venom: The Last Dance‘ hit No. 1 at the box office, but the comic book movie fell significantly short of expectations.

The third and final entry in Sony’s Marvel anti-hero series, led by Tom Hardy, opened to a modest $51 million from 4,125 North American theaters. Rival studios estimate the final weekend tally will be under $50 million. Those ticket sales are far behind expectations of $65 million and much lower than the previous two installments of 2018’s “Venom,” which opened to $80 million, and 2021’s “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” which opened to a record $90 when the pandemic opened. million.

Despite its soft start in North America, the comic book installment is getting a boost from international audiences. “Venom 3” has grossed $124 million overseas for a worldwide start of $175 million.

“The Last Dance” cost $120 million to produce, not including worldwide marketing efforts. That’s far less than most superhero films, such as “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Joker: Folie à Deux,” which each cost more than $200 million. But since theater owners get to keep about half of ticket sales, the third “Venom” will have to stick around after its big-screen debut to justify that price tag. After a much bigger start, the first “Venom” reached $856 million worldwide, while “Let There Be Carnage” surpassed $500 million worldwide.

This series has never been a critical darling, and the latest installment is no exception, with a 37% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Still, fans may also be tired of the franchise, as audience members gave the film a “B-” on CinemaScore, the lowest grade of the trilogy. Kelly Marcel, who wrote the first two films, directed the PG-13 threequel, which stars Hardy as investigative journalist Eddie Brock and his unwitting sidekick and parasite Venom, both of whom are on the run from their world.

The total box office return remains 11.4% behind the same point in 2023 and 26.8% compared to 2019. Most major studios did not want to release a film around the election, so the only titles on the calendar in the coming weeks are Sony’s “Here,” a poorly reviewed drama directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring digitally de-aged versions of Tom Hanks and Robin Wright (Nov. 1), and Amazon’s Christmas comedy “Red One,” starring Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson as the head of Santa’s security plays (November 15). Otherwise, there won’t be another tentpole to save the state of cinema until “Gladiator 2” and “Wicked” on November 22, followed by “Moana 2” on November 27.

“Movie attendance falls back into its submerged state. ‘Joker 2’ left a hole, and ‘Venom 3’ doesn’t fill it,” said David A. Gross, president of the film consultancy Franchise Entertainment Research. “There is little momentum at the moment.”

To that end, “Joker: Folie à Deux” plunged to 12th place during its fourth weekend of release, raising a dismal $600,000 from 1,243 locations. The successor to the billion-dollar hit ‘Joker’ from 2019 has become a box office disaster with $57.8 million domestically and $193 million worldwide. By comparison, the original “Joker” stayed in the top two for five weeks, earning $335 million domestically and $21.07 billion worldwide. The $200 million-budgeted Warner Bros. sequel won’t come anywhere close to these returns and is poised to lose $150 million to $200 million at the box office.

Another new release, the Ralph Fiennes-led thriller “Conclave,” opened above expectations at No. 3 with $6.5 million from 1,753 theaters. Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front”) directed “Conclave,” a tense Vatican drama about the selection of the new pope – which involves secrets that could shake the foundations of the church. Focus Features has acquired domestic rights to the PG film, which is getting good reviews and hoping to get into the Oscar race. Audiences also loved “Conclave,” which earned a “B+” on CinemaScore. Ticket buyers were mostly older men: 77% were over 35 years old and 54% identified as male.

“This is a very good opening for an awards drama,” says Gross. “The Catholic Church offers an endless supply of dramatic, cinematic material.”

Elsewhere at the domestic box office, Paramount’s thriller “Smile 2” slipped to second place with $9.6 million, down 59% from its debut. The R-rated sequel to 2022’s “Smile,” which topped the box office last weekend, has generated $40.7 million in North America and $83 million worldwide to date. It cost $28 million and will be profitable, but not as successful as the original, which grossed $105 million in North America and $217 million worldwide.

Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot” fell to No. 4 with $6.2 million in its fifth weekend of release. The well-reviewed family film has held up at the box office with minimal week-to-week drops, collecting $111 million domestically and $232 million worldwide to date.

A24’s tearful romantic drama “We Live in Time” remained in fifth place with $4.8 million as it expanded to 1,939 theaters. The film, starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh as a young couple in unenviable circumstances, has grossed a solid $11.7 million to date.

Meanwhile, Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or-winning “Anora” cracked the top 10 with $867,142 at just 34 locations – which translates to a robust $25,504 per location. Neon acquired the rights to the film at Cannes and will continue to expand the footprint of “Anora,” a comedic take on an exotic dancer and sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch, during the fall and awards season.