Venom 3 tops the box office and opens well behind expectations

“Venom: The Last Dance” is number one at the box office, but the comic book movie failed to live up to expectations.

The third and final entry in Sony’s Marvel anti-hero series, directed by Tom Hardy, opened with a modest $51 million in 4,125 North American theaters. Rival studios estimate the final weekend figure will be less than $50 million. Those ticket sales are well behind projections of $65 million and much lower than the two previous installments of 2018’s “Venom,” which opened with $80 million, and “Venom: Let There Be Carnage.” of 2021, which premiered at a then-record $90 during the pandemic. million.

Despite the soft start in North America, the comic’s release is getting a boost from international audiences. “Venom 3” has grossed $124 million overseas for a global start of $175 million.

“The Last Dance” cost $120 million to produce, not including worldwide marketing efforts. That’s far less than most superhero movies, like “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Joker: Folie à Deux,” which each cost more than $200 million. However, with theater owners keeping about half of ticket sales, the third “Venom” needs to remain on the big screen beyond its debut to justify that price. After much bigger starts, the first “Venom” grossed $856 million worldwide, while “Let There Be Carnage” surpassed $500 million worldwide.

This series has never been a critical favorite, and the latest installment is no exception with a 37% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, fans may also be growing tired of the franchise, as audience members gave the film a “B-” CinemaScore, the lowest grade of the trilogy. Kelly Marcel, who wrote the first two films, directed the PG-13 thriller, starring Hardy as investigative journalist Eddie Brock and his unwilling sidekick and parasite Venom, who flee their worlds.

Overall box office revenue remains 11.4% behind the same point in 2023 and 26.8% from 2019. Most major studios did not want to release a movie around the election, so The only titles on the schedule in the coming weeks are “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 holiday comedy “ Red One,” with Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson playing Santa’s head of security (November 15). Otherwise, there won’t be another tentpole to save the state of moviegoing until “Gladiator 2” and “Wicked” on Nov. 22, followed by “Moana 2” on Nov. 27.

“Cinema is falling back into its sunken state. ‘Joker 2’ left a void and ‘Venom 3’ is not filling it,” says David A. Gross, who runs the film consultancy Franchise Entertainment Research. “There is little momentum at the moment.”

To that end, “Joker: Folie à Deux” fell to No. 12 in its fourth weekend of release, grossing a pitiful $600,000 from 1,243 theaters. The follow-up to 2019’s multi-million-dollar hit “Joker” has become a box office disaster with 57.8 million dollars nationally and 193 million dollars worldwide. By comparison, the original “Joker” stayed in the top two for five weeks and grossed $335 million domestically and $21.07 billion worldwide. The $200 million-budgeted Warner Bros. sequel won’t come close to those revenues and is poised to lose between $150 million and $200 million in its theatrical run.

Another new release, the Ralph Fiennes-directed thriller “Conclave,” opened above expectations at No. 3 with $6.5 million in 1,753 theaters. Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front”) directed “Conclave,” a tense drama set in the Vatican about the selection of the new Pope, containing secrets that could shake the foundations of the Church. Focus Features acquired domestic rights to the PG film, which has strong reviews and hopes to find itself in the Oscar race. Audiences also liked “Conclave,” which earned a “B+” 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 award-winning drama,” says Gross. “The Catholic Church provides an endless supply of dramatic film material.”

Elsewhere at the domestic box office, Paramount thriller “Smile 2” fell to second place with $9.6 million, a 59% drop 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 costs $28 million and will be profitable, although not as successful as the original, which earned $105 million in North America and $217 million worldwide.

“The Wild Robot,” from Universal and DreamWorks Animation, fell to No. 4 with $6.2 million in its fifth weekend of release. The family film, which has received good reviews, has endured at the box office with minimal drops week after week, so far accumulating $111 million domestically and $232 million worldwide.

A24’s dark romantic drama “We Live in Time” remained in fifth place with $4.8 million and 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 winner “Anora” cracked the top 10 with $867,142 in just 34 theaters, which translates to a solid $25,504 per location. Neon secured the rights to the film at Cannes and will continue to expand the footprint of “Anora,” a comedic look at an exotic dancer and sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch, throughout the fall and awards season.