Tom Hardy portrays Eddie Brock in "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" by Sony
Review of Marvels Venom: Sony and Marvels Venom sequel caused a lot of chaos at the domestic box-office this weekend. The movie grossed a staggering $90.1 million in its first Fri-Sun frame. This is a decent result, especially for a highly-anticipated, but not yet critically acclaimed sequel to the comic book superhero series. It also has a 2.42x multiplier. It is also the second-largest October launch ever, after Joker ($96million on the same weekend in 2019). It is 12.5% more than the Venom's $80 million debut in the same frame in 2018. Moreover, the Andy Serkis-directed and Kelly Marcel-penned horror/fantasy/romcom/superhero flick earned the biggest Fri-Sun debut since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker ($173 million) in December 2019. Yes, Woody Harrelsons' Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Tom Hardy just won the largest opening weekend in the so-called pandemic era.
Cinemark reports that this opening is their largest Covid-era debut, and their biggest-ever October opener. This proves a few points. First, audiences will continue to flock to Marvel/DC films, even though the superhero fatigue narrative is resurgent after Black Widows $80 million domestic debut, and The Suicide Squads disastrous $26.5 million launch in July. The second is the variable associated with franchise films like Space Jam: A New Legacy and Snake Eyes. This is a bigger Venom debut than I've been saying since May. Think A Quiet Place part II and F9, Shang-Chi, Venom 2 were blockbusters. They made in North America more than they would have (or very close) before Covid.
Sony was correct to place a single Venom movie on the market. Yesterday's success of Venom was more popular than the critics expected. It earned $213.5 million domestically and $854 million worldwide (thanks to a huge $269 million in China) on a budget of $90 million. Even those who did not fully endorse the film gave credit to Hardy's outrageous performance, and the films flirtations of outright queer romance and metaphorical queer love amid a conventional superhero origin story plot. Let There Be Carnage, which Hardy co-wrote with Kelly Marcel, has been correctly marketed as 95 minutes of exactly what you loved about the previous movie.
It is obvious that Carnage would be a great addition to the movie. A solo Venom movie was clearly in demand. Hardy's star turn and the campy comic sensibilities of the first and second films, as well as the sequel, created a Venom franchise that even those who don't care about the topic in the abstract will have some interest in. This specificity is more important than the abstract idea of Spider-Man meeting Venom.
Sonys debut was a huge success and Sonys new incarnation is unique enough to make a crossover a bonus, not a necessity. Sony, like Jumanji, revived a franchise through creating something that is valuable even for people who didn't initially care. This is a remarkable feat, and Sony might just allow Matt Tolmach to manage all its IP revivals. We'll see if the sequel makes it to China, but with a $110million budget and a record-breaking domestic debut (plus a fourth-largest-ever launch in Russia of $13.8 million), China could be considered a bonus territory rather than a must-see. Mulan was on track for a domestic debut of over/under $75 millions before it was cancelled in March 2020. The inevitable failure of Mulan in China would have been comic irony with little consequence.
This is a very positive sign for No Time to Die's domestic debut next week. This is a new twist for Halloween Kills, which was released in theaters/Peacock on a day-and-date basis after (I would argue) The Forever Purge and Old all fell below $60 million domestically. If it is already on Peacock, how does the 31-day exclusive work if it opens over $50 million? I will admit that some of the biggest stars of this year, such as Jungle Cruise, which earned domestic figures comparable to non-Fast Saga Dwayne starring vehicles like Rampage, Central Intelligence, and Candyman, which I had deemed a breakout biggie back in early 2020, did not earn more due to pandemic-specific circumstances.
Jungle Cruise released a Premier Access day-and-date release. Venom: Let There Be Carnages' debut is further proof of the importance of theatrical exclusivity. A Quiet Place part II made 85% of its $188 million domestic debut. F9, which earned $173 million from a debut of $70 million, was the most expensive Fast & Furious movie. It is also the least profitable Fast & Furious film since 2 Fast 2 Furious ($127million from a debut of $50 million in 2003). Shang-Chi, the Legend of the Ten Rings and Bad Boys for Life ($206m in January 2020) will be the largest domestic grosser of 2020-2021. They are expected to reach $220 million domestic. Could Venom 2 have been launched with $100 million in noncovid times? Sony will be content with $86 million, however.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage is now the first Covid-era sequel that opened bigger than its (and very recent) predecessor, Space Jam 2. It appears domestic box office is safe for blockbusters that were previously certain to be successful. Unfortunately, the jury is still out on any other content. In the past six years, the majority of moviegoers have moved to streaming to enjoy the films. The biggest events now account for a larger percentage of annual ticket sales than ever. 15% was accounted for by the top six movies in 2011. It was 26% in 2018. As pandemic-era consumer behavior becomes semipermanent, I expect this divide to continue to grow.
