Saturday UPDATE: Venom: The Last Dance seems to be holding up better than expected in its second weekend. Perhaps it’s the lack of competition (no one wants to open so close to the U.S. election), but the film is posting a solid hold, with it only dipping an estimated 56% in week two for a potential $22 million weekend. That’s better than the $18 million we predicted. However, the AI-assisted Robert Zemeckis movie, Here, is an utter disaster, with Deadline reporting it’s only on track to open just slightly north of $5 million, which is madness for a movie that re-teams the core team behind Forrest Gump. In fact, the movie seems likely to be beaten this weekend by Focus’s Conclave, which only dipped 24% week-to-week, and should have a $5 million second weekend. Smile 2 and The Wild Robot are currently too close to call for second place, with each looking to make in the $6 million range.
Original post: While I wonder where all the trick-or-treaters have gone, they could be at the theater enjoying another spin on the dancefloor with Sony’s Venom: The Last Dance. The symbiotic sequel took a bite out of $2.8M at the Halloween box office on Thursday, quickly slithering into the top spot above preview screenings for Robert Zemeckis’ Here, starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright. Zemeckis’ heartfelt (if uneven) drama banked $475K, with shows beginning at 2 PM at 2,402 locations.
Sony hopes Venom: The Last Dance, directed by franchise vet Kelly Marcel, could make as much as $20M in its second week after a weak debut in the States with $51M. Venom: The Last Dance, which stars Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, and Clask Backo, sits at $184.5M worldwide, though Sony hopes the film has legs throughout its theatrical run. Meanwhile, Miramax thinks Here, a fixed camera angle drama focusing on a family throughout generations, could earn $7M over the weekend despite weak review scores, including a $38% Rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Quorum, who tracks a film’s performance throughout its theatrical run, thinks Sony has stones for releasing a tentpole film so close to the 2024 Presidential Election race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. As each candidate approaches the final lap of their respective campaign roadmaps, the contentious race is all any news outlet can talk about, making little room for cinematic fanfare. Sony’s recent run of superhero films (Morbius, Madame Web) isn’t doing Venom: The Last Dance any favors, as critics and fans mercilessly panned both movies. While Tom Hardy’s Venom has a built-in fanbase and surprisingly good luck at the box office, audiences are distracted, anxious, and hard-up for dollars. These circumstances make going to the movies a second thought, especially considering how fast movies are released on Digital in a post-pandemic market.
Here’s hoping Sony’s Kraven the Hunter, releasing on December 12, fares better. The upcoming anti-hero film focuses on Kraven’s (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) complex relationship with his ruthless father, Nikolai Kravinoff, which starts him down a path of vengeance with brutal consequences, motivating him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world but also one of its most feared.
What are you seeing at the theater this weekend? Let us know in the comments section below.