Weekend Box Office: Venom rallies in week 2; has a low second weekend drop

Despite a disappointing opening, Sony’s Venom 3 rallied in week two, while Robert Zemeckis’s Here was a disaster.

Weekend Box Office

After a pretty underwhelming start at the North American box office, Sony’s Venom: The Last Dance, surprised everyone this weekend by posting a terrific hold. The estimated $26.1 weekend was a lot higher than we predicted. The 49% drop is unusual for a superhero film. The first Venom dropped 56% in week 2, while the sequel plunged 65%. Even Deadpool & Wolverine – the most liked superhero movie in years – fell 54% in its second weekend, which was considered a decent hold.

So what’s going on here? Part of it may be that the World Series might have kept audiences away last weekend. With a U.S. election happening on Tuesday, people might have yearned for a little escapism, allowing the film to make up for last weekend’s shortfall. With a $90 million gross, it’s unlikely to cross the double-century mark its predecessors did, but with very little in the way of competition next weekend, a finish north of $150 million isn’t out of the question.

Meanwhile, second place went to Dreamworks’s The Wild Robot, which has turned out to be a sleeper hit, with the $7.55 million haul (up 11% from last weekend) contributing to a $121 million domestic total. Smile 2 was a distant third, with $6.8 million and a $52.6 million total gross. While it will fall far short of the $105 million made by the first film, it should still turn a nice profit for the studio, allowing for more sequels (whether or not they should is something we dug into here). 

Ralph Fiennes

Focus Features has a word-of-mouth hit with Conclave, which fell a modest 20% in week 2 for a $5.3 million weekend and a total north of $14 million. With it likely to do well during awards season, there’s a good chance word of mouth will prop this up for a solid run (although if it drops too early on PVOD, it might shoot long-term box office prospects in the foot a bit).

The Robert Zemeckis movie, Here, wound up doing awful business this weekend, with a $5 million weekend. The CinemaScore is B minus, proving audiences aren’t enjoying this Tom Hanks/ Robin Wright re-team with their Forrest Gump director. A24 got themselves a nice word-of-mouth hit with We Live in Time, which fell a modest 28% this weekend, with a $3.47 weekend and a gross north of $17 million. It may well make it to $30 million if couples keep turning out to see this on date night. 

Meanwhile, possibly the year’s most profitable movie, Terrifier 3, earned $3.2 million towards a $50 million total gross. Two Bollywood movies took up eighth and ninth place, with Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and Singham Again both making over $2 million apiece. Finally, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice rounded out the top 10, with a $2.08 million weekend and a $292 million gross.

Interestingly, Deadline reports that Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2, despite being dumped by Warner Bros, is far exceeding expectations, with an estimated $275k weekend on only thirty screens. If true, that would give it one of the highest per-screen averages on the chart this weekend. Considering his amazing track record, the studio should have shown a little more faith in ol’Clint.

Next weekend should allow Venom: The Last Dance to eke out another victory, with A24’s Heretic the only competition.

# MOVIE TITLE WKND $ TOTAL $
1 Venom: The Last Dance $26.1 M $90 M
2 The WIld Robot $7.55 M $121.4 M
3 Smile 2 $6.8 M $52.6 M
4 Conclave $5.3 M $14.9 M
5 Here $5 M $5 M
6 We Live in Time $3.47 M $17.6 M
7 Terrifier 3 $3.22 M $50.5 M
8 Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 $2.33 M $2.33 M
9 Singham Again $2.19 M $2.19 M
10 Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice $2.08 M $292.1 M

About the Author

Chris Bumbray began his career with JoBlo as the resident film critic (and James Bond expert) way back in 2007, and he has stuck around ever since, being named editor-in-chief in 2021. A voting member of the CCA and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, you can also catch Chris discussing pop culture regularly on CTV News Channel.