NEW YORK (AP) — “Venom: The Last Dance” made less of an impact at the box office than expected, grossing $51 million in its opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, significantly less than previous entries. from the alien symbiote franchise.
Projections for Sony Pictures’ third “Venom” movie were approaching $65 million. More worrying, however, was the drop in comparison to the first two “Venom” films. The 2018 original debuted with $80.2 million, while the 2021 follow-up, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” opened with $90 million even as theaters were still in recovery mode during the pandemic.
“The Last Dance,” starring Tom Hardy as a journalist who shares his body with an alien entity also played by Hardy, could still turn a profit for Sony. Its production budget, without taking into account promotion and marketing, was about $120 million, significantly less than that of most comic book films.
But “The Last Dance” is also doing better overseas. Internationally, “Venom: The Last Dance” grossed $124 million over the weekend, including $46 million during its five-day release in China. That’s enough for one of the best international weekends of the year for a Hollywood premiere.
Even so, neither the reviews (36% on Rotten Tomatoes) nor the audience scores (a “B-” CinemaScore, the worst received for a film in the franchise) have been good for the film scripted by Kelly Marcel and Hardy, and directed by Marcel.
Below are the estimated ticket sales figures for Friday through Sunday at theaters in the United States and Canada, according to Comscore. The final figures will be published on Monday.
1. “Venom: The Last Dance,” $51 million.
2. “Smile 2”, 9.4 million.
3. “Conclave”, 6.5 million.
4. “The Wild Robot”, 6,5 millones.
5. “We Live in Time”, 4,8 millones.
6. “Terrifier 3”, 4.3 million.
7. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” 3.2 million.
8. “Anora”, $867,142.
9. “Piece by Piece”, $720,000.
10. “Transformers One,” $720,000.
