‘Venom: The Last Dance’ skips screenings as superhero films weaken in theaters

NEW YORK (AP) — “Venom: The Last Dance” performed less than expected with $51 million in its opening weekend, according to studio estimates on Sunday, well below the alien symbiote franchise’s previous entries.

Estimates for the third Venom movie from Sony Pictures were approaching $65 million. More concerning, however, was the lag behind the first two Venom films. The 2018 original debuted with $80.2 million, and the 2021 sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, opened with $90 million, even though 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 voiced by Hardy, could still turn a profit for Sony. Its production budget, excluding advertising and marketing, was about $120 million—far less than most comic book movies.

But “The Last Dance” is also better abroad. Internationally, Venom: The Last Dance grossed $124 million over the weekend, including $46 million over five days in China. That’s enough for one of the best international weekends of the year for a Hollywood release.

Still, neither reviews (36% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) nor audience scores (a franchise-low “B-” CinemaScore) were good for the film, written by Kelly Marcel and Hardy and directed by Marcel.

According to David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes superhero movies, a low weekend for “Venom: The Last Dance” will likely guarantee that superhero movies will be the lowest in decades, barring the pandemic of 2020. newsletter for Franchise Entertainment.

Following The failure of “Joker: Folie à Deux”, Gross estimates that superhero movies in 2024 will gross around $2.25 billion at the global box office. The only upcoming project is Marvel’s Kraven the Hunter, which is due out on December 13th. Even considering Deadpool and Wolverine’s $1.3 billion gross, the genre overall hasn’t dominated the way it once did. For example, in 2018, worldwide ticket sales for superhero movies totaled more than $7 billion.

Last week’s best movieParamount Pictures’ horror sequel Smile 2 dropped to second place with $9.4 million. That brings its two-week total to $83.7 million worldwide.

The biggest success story of the weekend may have been The Conclave, a papal thriller starring Ralph Fiennes and directed by Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front”). The Focus Features release, a major Oscar contender, opened with $6.5 million from 1,753 theaters.

That put The Conclave in third place, making it the rare adult-oriented drama to make a mark in the theater. About 77% of ticket buyers were over 35 years old, reports Focus. With a strong opening and stellar reviews, The Conclave could continue to gain momentum among moviegoers and Oscar voters alike.