‘Venom 3’ Targets Franchise-Low $65 Million Opening Weekend
“Venom: The Last Dance” hopes to sink its teeth into at least $65 million in its box office debut. The third and final entry in the Tom Hardy-led antihero franchise is landing in 4,125 North American theaters on Friday.
Those ticket sales would be far behind the prior two installments, 2018’s “Venom” (which opened to $80 million) and 2021’s “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” (which opened to $90 million, setting a then pandemic-era record). The comic book installment looking to get a lift from international audiences; “Venom 3” is projected to add $85 million overseas for a global start of $150 million.
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“The Last Dance” cost $120 million to produce, not including worldwide marketing efforts. Since theater owners get to keep roughly half of ticket sales, “Venom 3” needs to stick around on the big screen beyond its debut to justify that price tag. Kelly Marcel, who wrote the first two films, directed the PG-13 threequel, which stars Hardy as investigative journalist Eddie Brock and his unwitting sidekick and parasite Venom, both of whom are on the run from their worlds. “Venom” exists in the Sony Universe of Marvel Characters — therefore the otherworldly lethal protector doesn’t interact with comic book characters from Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe. (He did, however, appear in the end credits of Sony’s 2021 tentpole “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”)
“Venom,” whose title character is an adversary of Spider-Man in Marvel Comics, has proven to be review-proof. Critics panned the first two films, with the original holding a 30% average on Rotten Tomatoes and the second slightly improving with a 57%. Yet those negative sentiments did little to deter fans, who propelled “Venom” to $856 million worldwide and “Let There Be Carnage” to $506 million worldwide. Reviews for the third entry are under embargo.
“Venom: The Last Dance” will easily top the domestic box office and dethrone last weekend’s champ, Paramount’s scary sequel “Smile 2,” which earned $23 million. Another new release, Ralph Fiennes-led thriller “Conclave,” is targeting $4 million to $6 million from 1,742 theaters between Friday and Sunday. Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front”) directed “Conclave,” a tense Vatican-set drama about the selection of the new pope — which comes with secrets that could shake the church’s foundation. Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini round out the cast. Focus Features acquired domestic rights to the PG film, which has solid reviews. “This thinking man’s thriller unfolds like a murder mystery,” Variety’s chief film critic Peter Debruge wrote in his review. “Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, ‘Conclave’ lobs one of the most satisfying twists in years, a Hail Mary that both surprises and restores one’s faith.”
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