Venom: The Last Dance will be the subject of box office reports for a while, from its opening weekend haul to worldwide domestic and international numbers. Venom 3’s climactic ending marks the end of the trilogy set in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, though surprisingly, it teases a future for one of its new characters. The villainous Knull was teased to have a lasting vendetta in Venom 3’s post-credit scene that will continue to affect the franchise even if the titular Lethal Protector is no longer bonded to Eddie Brock.
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Although Venom’s future is uncertain, the story of Venom 4 could be greenlit should The Last Dance perform well at the box office. After all, Sony cannot afford to be picky given the previous failures of Morbius and Madame Web, both commercially and concerning their critical ranking within the Sony Spider-Man Universe. The Venom franchise is Sony’s sole success in recent times concerning superhero movies, begging the question of whether Venom: The Last Dance has continued this trend or fallen short of expectations at the last hurdle.
Venom: The Last Dance's Total Box Office (So Far)
Venom 3's Overall Box Office Explained
Overall, Venom: The Last Dance's box office returns look somewhat promising as of the conclusion of its opening weekend. The film was produced on a budget of around $120 million. This production cost is somewhat of a rarity in the world of modern superhero cinema, given that most movies in this genre are produced with budgets that balloon up to and beyond $200 million. However, Venom: The Last Dance was evidently a more cost-cutting production, rendering its total box office gross so far all the more impressive.
Sony will hope Venom: The Last Dance can defy the norm and hold its place as a box office hit for a month or longer...
As of October 27, at the end of Venom 3's opening weekend, the film has grossed a healthy $175 million (via The Hollywood Reporter). This marks a healthy start for the film at the box office, with all eyes now turning to whether the film will have legs or not. In an industry in which the gap between theatrical and home releases is becoming increasingly shorter, Sony will hope Venom: The Last Dance can defy the norm and hold its place as a box office hit for a month or longer.
Venom: The Last Dance's Opening Weekend Box Office
Venom 3's Opening Weekend Was A Tale Of Two Markets
Regarding Venom: The Last Dance's opening weekend box office numbers, they strike somewhat of a dichotomy. Domestically, Venom: The Last Dance opened below expectations. In the United States and Canada, Venom 3 only grossed around $51 million, well below the expected opening haul of $61 million. Despite this number likely being disappointing to those at Sony Pictures, the international market looks much more promising regarding Venom: The Last Dance's opening weekend gross.
|
Movie |
Budget |
Domestic Opening Weekend |
International Opening Weekend |
Total Opening Weekend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Venom: The Last Dance |
$120,000,000 |
$51,000,000 |
$124,000,000 |
$175,000,000 |
Overseas, Venom 3's opening weekend box office haul almost tripled that of its domestic total. The film pulled in a highly respectable $124 million outside of North America, taking its worldwide opening weekend total to $175 million. Against its fairly modest $120 million budget, these numbers are undoubtedly pleasing to Sony. Furthermore, Venom: The Last Dance opened to a $46 million total in China alone, the highest opening weekend numbers for a superhero movie since 2019 and the highest Hollywood opening of 2024.
How Venom: The Last Dance's Box Office Compares To The First Two Movies
Venom: The Last Dance Continues The Franchise's Strong Status Within Sony's Universe
As alluded to, the Venom franchise is easily Sony's most successful current superhero franchise. With Kraven the Hunter still a Marvel movie yet to release in 2024, Sony will be hoping another hero is added to the shorter list of successful superhero projects within the SSU. Venom 3's success is emulative of its two predecessors, which easily outrank Morbius and Madame Web commercially. While it remains to be seen how Venom 3's total will shape up in comparison to its predecessors' at the end of its run, the opening weekend numbers can be compared.
Venom 3's $175 million total naturally pales in comparison to Venom's worldwide gross of $856 million. When comparing opening weekend numbers only, however, Venom: The Last Dance's box office looks more promising. Venom's opening weekend worldwide total was $205 million, only $35 million more than Venom: The Last Dance. Given that Venom: Let There Be Carnage was a COVID-19 release, only its domestic opening weekend numbers were recorded: $90 million. This is almost double Venom: The Last Dance's opening weekend numbers domestically, but the third movie could go on to earn more than Venom 2's worldwide total of $506 million.
When comparing Venom 3 to other Sony Spider-Man Universe movies, the film looks like an incredible success. Morbius and Madame Web are counted among the biggest superhero box office flops of all time, earning lowly worldwide totals of $167 million and $100 million respectively. This means that Venom: The Last Dance has outgrossed both worldwide totals in only one weekend. As such, Venom 3 is expected to have similar legs to its predecessors, if not reaching the heights of the first movie.
What Venom: The Last Dance's Box Office Means For The Franchise
Could Venom 4 Happen After All?
Naturally, the biggest question coming out of Venom: The Last Dance and its box office haul is what these numbers mean for the franchise. For all intents and purposes, Venom 3 was set to be the last movie in the franchise. Star Tom Hardy has implied in an Instagram comment that it is his final appearance as Eddie Brock and Venom, as supported by one of the many deaths in Venom: The Last Dance. However, if Venom 3 proves to have legs at the worldwide box office after its promising debut, Venom 4 could be on the cards.
There was a small hint in Venom 3's post-credit scene that a spec of the Venom symbiote survived, leaving the door open for more adventures in the future. It could be the case that Sony Pictures billed Venom 3 as the final movie in case the film flopped like Morbius and Madame Web did. If it proves not to, the threads left dangling could mean more Venom stories in the future. In a business that is ever-increasingly reliant on box office numbers, those of Venom: The Last Dance could dictate whether the film's title is incorrect after all.
