‘Venom 2’ Conquers Box Office With Pandemic Record $90 Million Opening

J. Kim Murphy administratorNorth American audiences are seeing the spice flow on the big screen.

That tops the $32.8 million launch of Villeneuve’s last film, “Blade Runner 2049” and is also the best opening weekend for Warner Bros. this year as it releases all of its films simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max.

Naman Ramachandran James Bond film “No Time to Die” ruled the U.K. and Ireland box office for the third weekend in succession collecting £8.4 million ($11.5 million), according to numbers from Comscore.Daniel Craig’s swan song now has an impressive total of £68.5 million.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Venom: Let There Be Carnage” gave a much-needed jolt to the South Korean box office with a $6.66 million opening weekend.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaSony’s “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” loomed large at the international box office this weekend, sinking its prodigious chompers into $62.3 million. That pushes the superhero adventure’s global haul to a muscular $283.7 million.

Refresh for latest…: Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage chomped on a big chunk of the international box office this weekend as it swallowed a $62.3M mouthful from 44 overseas markets. This follows from the symbiote’s record-breaking Russia and Latin America starts over the past few weeks. The Tom Hardy-starrer has now cumed $115.6M overseas and $283.7M global. While dates were switched up, the current pillow between Bond and Dune has done Venom well.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“Halloween Kills,” the horror sequel starring Jamie Lee Curtis, should slash its way to the top of box office charts when it opens in 3,700 North American theaters on Friday.From Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions, the latest “Halloween” installment is projected to generate $35 million to $40 million in its first three days of release.

Refresh for latest…: MGM/Eon/Universal’s No Time To Die has sped the Aston Martin past the $300M global mark, coming off of an $89.54M sophomore frame at the international box office. That lifts James Bond 25’s overseas cume to $257.27M and, including domestic’s start this session, brings the worldwide total to $313.3M.

J. Kim Murphy administratorNorth American audiences are showing up for Daniel Craig’s final bow as James Bond.

Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage has feasibly crossed $100M in five days, joining Disney/Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings as the fastest titles to do so at the pandemic domestic box office. Both titles are on a theatrical window exceeding 45 days.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterFor cinema operators and Hollywood studios alike, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” has been the loudest indication yet that maybe, just maybe, the movie theater business can rebound from COVID-19 wreckage.The Sony Pictures supervillain sequel sunk its teeth into the box office with $90.1 million, a debut that’s impressively reminiscent of opening weekends prior to the global health crisis.

Of course, the biggest market for the film is Bond’s homeland of the UK, where the film has set a pandemic era record with an estimated $34.8 million 4-day opening from 772 locations, the country’s widest release ever.

Refresh for latest…: A big and busy weekend at the international box office reaffirmed the power of theatrical as MGM/Eon/Universal’s No Time To Die bonded with audiences to the tune of $119.1M, coming in over on yesterday’s estimates.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage is a hit!

Not only that, it also exceeds the $80 million opening of the first “Venom” in 2018, putting it on course to join “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” as the second post-shutdown film to reach $200 million domestic. Premium formats like IMAX were also a major factor behind the new pandemic era record as 64% of tickets sold were premium tickets, bumping up the film’s performance.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“Venom: Let There be Carnage” roared to $90 million in its debut, setting a new pandemic record.

Even without grading the film on a COVID-19 curve, that’s a very solid result for the sequel considering the original “Venom” earned an $80 million opening on 2018. Reception for “Venom 2,” which leans harder into the dark but silly humor of the symbiote antihero and his hapless human host Eddie, has been stronger than for the original film with a 59% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and an 86% audience score to go with a B+ CinemaScore.