SATURDAY UPDATE, Refresh for latest…: Demonstrating continued strength at the international box office, Sony’s Venom: The Last Dance has chomped on $50.8M from 64 overseas markets through Friday. As noted yesterday (see below), and despite domestic’s underperformance, the full global weekend bow is looking to come in at $180M. That would bring the franchise total to $1.5B.
The China gross through Friday was $22M, with Saturday (not reflected in the overseas cume above) pushing that to an estimated $36.8M across four days; and now expected to reach a $45M through Sunday. This is despite a 6.8 critical score from Douban, versus the 7.2 earned by 2018’s trilogy starter. The audience score on Moayan has also dropped another smidge, now at 8.8, but this doesn’t seem to be denting business.
Even Chinese state media is endorsing the movie, calling its opening impressive and robust. Further, it was noted that Sony hired Chinese actor Jia Bing to voice Venom in the local release, and created promotional materials inspired by Chinese culture, such as a poster for the film that is reminiscent of traditional Chinese art and based on the legend of Hou Yi, a divine archer from Chinese mythology who shot down nine of the 10 suns.
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PREVIOUS, FRIDAY UPDATE: Across its first two full days of overseas play, Sony’s Venom: The Last Dance has slurped up a total $27.3M from 47 international box office markets. As we noted on Wednesday (see below) the early offshore performance is sending projections for the global bow higher than initially estimated. Worldwide, the Marvel symbiote is now looking at a $180M opening. Thursday’s domestic previews, as Anthony has reported, were $8.5M.
If it hits that $180M mark globally, this $120M Tom Hardy-starrer, which includes TSG as a co-financier for a third, will come in 5% above the worldwide debut of the previous title in the trilogy, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, on a like-for-like basis at today’s rates.
Part of what we’re seeing here is a better-than-expected start in China ($14.7M through Thursday), while some South East Asia markets saw launches that were higher than Let There Be Carnage. That includes results in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.
Recall that Carnage did not release in China, while SE Asia opened at a time when recovery from the Covid impact was choppy, but the movie still got folks back out to cinemas.
Through today (and not included in the 2-day total above), China has reached $22M across three days so far. That clears a path for a $35M+ 5-day launch. China’s Maoyan score slipped from a 9 on Wednesday to an 8.9 currently, with the site now seeing an $81.8M full run – predictions tend to fluctuate over the first few days of play.
Korea has grossed $2.3M with Friday numbers included ($857K of that came from today and is not reflected in the through-Thursday gross above).
In Europe, Germany’s Thursday opening of $800K was bigger than Carnage by 43%, and Belgium’s $168K is the top start in the franchise.
Elsewhere, the Kelly Marcel-directed/co-scripted film notably added the UK and Spain today. It is now out in 90% of its international footprint with France and Japan joining later.
We will continue to update throughout the weekend.
PREVIOUS, WEDNESDAY: Sony’s Venom: The Last Dance chomped into its first suite of international box office markets today, with the Marvel symbiote nabbing a strong $9.3M start in China.
This is the biggest opening day for a superhero film since Spider-Man: Far From Home in the market, and portends a five-day launch in the upper $30M neighborhood there. The start is also above recent Hollywood releases, though not apples-to-apples since other movies opened across a traditional weekend.
These days, anything above a $20M debut in China is icing for the studios. The early social score from Maoyan is a 9 and we are waiting on critical responses. These scores can certainly impact the outcome over the next few days.
The second Venom movie, Let There Be Carnage, did not release in the market while the first one did gangbusters at a $107.7M bow (historical rates). It finaled at $269.2M (again, historical conversion), and had a 9.1 social score. Maoyan is currently predicting an $82.5M total run for the Tom Hardy threequel.
As we noted yesterday, Venom: The Last Dance has been looking at a potential $150M global opening with $85M of that from overseas; the latter number now looks to shoot higher (bringing the worldwide opening to around $165M) if China delivers a high $30Ms 5-day.
Directed by Kelly Marcel and co-written by Marcel and Hardy, The Last Dance will be out in 90% of its offshore footprint through Friday, with France and Japan joining later in the rollout.
We will have updates throughout the weekend…
