‘Venom 3’ Leans on Overseas Box Office After Franchise-Low $51 Million Domestic Opening

It’s been a mixed bag for Sony/Columbia’s “Venom: The Last Dance” this weekend. While suffering by far the lowest domestic start for Tom Hardy’s Marvel antihero trilogy with $51 million from 4,131 locations, strong returns from China and other overseas markets have given the film a $175 million global start.

“Venom 3” still has the highest domestic opening this month after the collapse of “Joker: Folie a Deux,” but the film is falling well short of the $80 million domestic launch of the first “Venom” in 2018. It has also received a B- on CinemaScore, lower than the B+ of the previous two “Venom” films.

On the brighter side, the film carries a production budget of just $120 million, much lower than many of its comic book movie brethren. There also won’t be any major action films hitting theaters until Amazon MGM’s “Red One” on Nov. 15, which may help the film’s legs even if the word-of-mouth isn’t as strong.

But it is likely that “Venom 3” will have to lean on international markets to turn a modest theatrical profit. The film made $46 million on its opening weekend in China, well short of the $107.6 million that the first “Venom” made in that country but enough to make it the largest Hollywood opening this year as Chinese moviegoers have largely left American imports behind. Mexico was the second highest market with $7.3 million, followed by South Korea with $5.8 million.

Paramount’s “Smile 2” is in second place with $9.4 million in its second weekend, a 57% drop from its $23 million opening. The horror sequel is already a modest success with $40.7 million domestic and $83.7 million worldwide against a $28 million production budget, even if it is behind the pace of the first “Smile” which had a 10-day domestic total of $50 million.

In a virtual tie for third are Focus Features’ awards contender “Conclave” and Universal/DreamWorks’ “The Wild Robot,” each with $6.5 million. “Conclave “is meeting pre-release projections for its opening in 1,753 theaters, earning audience scores of 82% on Rotten Tomatoes and a B+ on CinemaScore as it faces specialty competition next weekend from the limited release of Searchlight’s “A Real Pain” and the expansion of Neon’s “Anora,” which made $867,000 from 34 theaters this weekend for a per theater average of $25,500 and a $1.6 million limited release total.

“The Wild Robot,” meanwhile, continues to exhibit excellent legs in its fifth weekend, bringing its domestic total to $111 million.

Also in a virtual tie for the No. 5 spot are two films that couldn’t be any more different: A24’s romantic drama “We Live in Time” and Cineverse/Bloody Disgusting’s unrated slasher “Terrifier 3,” both with $4.7 million.

“We Live In Time” expanded nationwide this weekend to 2,924 locations, now sporting a domestic total of $11.6 million after three weekends in theaters. “Terrifier 3,” which is still bringing in Halloween crowds, now has a domestic total of $44 million against a paltry $2.5 million production and marketing spend.

Finally, Warner Bros.’ “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” has exited the top 5 in its eighth weekend in theaters, adding $3.1 million. With $288 million grossed, it is the highest domestic total for Warner this year.

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