The Man in Black is looking to beat the King in Black at the box office. Venom: The Last Dance is projected to open this weekend with a franchise low of $65 million domestically, just below the $67 million that the Dwayne Johnson-starring Black Adam took in during its first weekend in the same time frame in 2022. While that was enough for the seventh-best October opening — behind the $80 million of 2018’s Venom and the $90 million of 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage — the DC movie ultimately underperformed at the global box office. Black Adam, which cost $195 million and went on to gross $390 million, earned less than October comic book releases Joker ($1 billion), Venom ($856 million), and Venom 2 ($506 million).
With an expected overseas opening upwards of $85 million, Venom 3 is on track for a potential $150 million global weekend, according to Deadline. The first Venom scored the biggest October opening ever at the time in 2018 with $205.5 million (a record it held until DC’s Joker surpassed that number with $248.4 million), and its opening weekend haul of $80 million domestic was the best October opening weekend of all time (until Joker‘s still-unmatched $96.2 million in October 2019).
Initial industry projections just one week ago had Venom 3 opening with $70 million, within range of Marvel Studios’ Eternals ($71 million), which disappointed with a global tally of $401 million. A $65 million domestic opening weekend would put Venom 3 on par with 2011’s Thor ($65.7 million opening weekend; $449 million worldwide); 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger ($65 million opening weekend; $370 million worldwide); 2014’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ($65 million opening weekend; $485 million worldwide); and
2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse ($65.7 million opening weekend; $542 million worldwide).
Venom: The Last Dance is “a whacky buddy road trip that stretches its PG-13 rating as far as it will possibly go,” ComicBook’s Chris Killian tweeted following the Monday night premiere in New York City. “Simply put – Venom 3 is classic guilty pleasure cinema. Turn your brains off and let Venom snack on ‘em.”
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Sony Pictures will lift the embargo on critics’ Venom 3 reviews on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 3 p.m. ET, one day before the early showings begin at 2 p.m. on Thursday.
In Venom: The Last Dance, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and Venom are on the run, hunted by both their worlds: on Earth, by the military and off-world, by the God of the Symbiotes, Lord of the Abyss, King in Black: Knull. In the conclusion to the Venom trilogy, “The duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance,” per the synopsis.
Hardy leads a cast that includes Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange) Juno Temple (Ted Lasso), Rhys Ifans (The Amazing Spider-Man), Alanna Ubach (Euphoria), Peggy Lu (reprising her role as Mrs. Chen), and Stephen Graham (reprising his Venom 2 role as Detective Mulligan). Kelly Marcel, co-writer of the first two films, makes her directorial debut and directs from a script she co-wrote with Hardy. Avi Arad (Borderlands), Matt Tolmach (Morbius), Amy Pascal (Spider-Man: No Way Home), and Hutch Parker (The Wolverine) are the producers with Marcel and Hardy.
Venom 3 opens only in theaters Friday.
