'Venom 2' Has a Monstrous Opening Weekend
by EG
Venom 2 scored the biggest 3-day opening weekend of the pandemic era and had one of the best October openings ever. Its $90 million in ticket sales was close to the opening-weekend take of Joker on the same weekend in 2019, making some wonder if the pandemic-era downturn was over for theaters. It's worth noting, however, that the only films to successful theatrical openings since the pandemic shutdown have been Marvel titles. Everything else has struggled. Read on for details.
In a stunning boost for theatrical, Venom: Let There Be Carnage opened to $90.1 million at the domestic box office, the biggest three-day launch of the pandemic era, fueling the biggest weekend overall since COVID-19 shut down theaters in March of 2020.
For the first time during the crisis, domestic box office revenues came in less than 15 percent behind the same weekend in 2019. On the same weekend two years ago, superhero sensation Joker opened to $96.2 million. Venom 2 marks the second-best October launch of all time behind that film, indicating that moviegoing returned to some semblance of normal over the weekend.
“With apologies to Mr. Twain: The death of movies has been greatly exaggerated,” Sony film chief Tom Rothman said in a statement.
Venom 2, made by Sony in association with Marvel Studios, came in $25 million to $30 million ahead of expectations to become the first sequel of the pandemic era to clock in ahead of the first film in a particular series (Venom opened to $80.3 million in 2018.)
The follow-up was released exclusively in cinemas versus going out simultaneously on premium VOD or a streaming service.
The news gets even better for Hollywood and theaters. Cinemark, one of the country’s three largest chains, enjoyed its biggest October opening weekend in history, as well as its biggest October weekend overall. The chain is also reporting that this could go down as the second-biggest October weekend of all time for the entire industry.
“This is another strong example that people want and need to get out of their homes for an immersive entertainment experience,” Cinemark CEO Mark Zoradi said in a statement.
Black Widow was the previous record-holder for best three-day opening of the pandemic era with nearly $81 million.
Over Labor Day, Marvel and Disney’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings set a new pandemic-era benchmark when opening to $94.7 million over the four-day Labor Day frame. It earned $75.4 million over the first three days of that long weekend.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.