“Venon: The Last Dance.”
Tom Hardy’s Marvel comic book movie Venom: The Last Dance isn’t opening with as big of numbers as initially projected.
Released by Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Columbia Pictures, Venom is the third and presumably final movie in the series following 2018’s Venom and 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
The latest installment is co-written by Hardy and Kelly Marcel and directed by Marcel. Deadline projects Venom: The Last Dance will earn $52 million in North American ticket sales this weekend in 4,131 venues—a good chunk less than the $65 million opening that was initially projected for the movie.
According to The Numbers, Venom: The Last Dance had a production budget before prints and advertising.
By contrast, the first Venom had an $80 million Friday-Sunday domestic opening frame on 4,250 screens against a $116 million budget before P&A; while Vernon: Let There Be Carnage earned $90 million in 4,225 North American theaters against a $110 million budget before its P&A spend.
‘Smile 2’ Takes No. 2 Domestically
Last week’s No. 1 film—Paramount Pictures’ horror thriller Smile 2—is projected by Deadline to drop to No. 2 domestically with a $10.3 million weekend. If the numbers hold on the sequel to the 2022 blockbuster Smile, it will boost the running domestic tally of the film to $41.6 million.
Naomi Scott leads the cast of writer-director Parker Finn’s sequel, which also features the return of Kyle Gallner’s character from the first film.
Meanwhile, Focus Features’ papal thriller Conclave is projected by the Hollywood trade publication to earn $6.5 million in 1,753 theaters for a third-place finish in its opening weekend. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Conclave, Deadline reported, had a production budget of $20 million before P&A.
Taking the No. 4 spot, per Deadline, is DreamWorks/Universal’s The Wild Robot, taking in $6.2 million to up its domestic take to $111 million, while A24’s We Live in Time rounds out the top five with a projected $5 million take to boost its domestic tally to $11.9 million to date.
Note: This box office report will be updated throughout the weekend as more domestic and international numbers come in. The final numbers for this weekend’s box office will be released on Monday.