With Warner Bros.’ Joker: Folie à Deux bombing and this past weekend’s overall ticket sales being off 43% from the same period a year ago, the October box office might feel kind of sluggish.
It’s at this point in time that we say, where are you Venom? A nation’s box office turns its lonely eyes to you. Literally. Tracking has Sony‘s black clad fanged Spider-Man antihero (yes, he’s from the Spider-verse, OK?!) threequel, Venom: The Last Dance, set to do $70M opening when it hits theaters on Oct. 25.
True, that’s the lowest start in the Venom trilogy, behind 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage ($90M, third best for October) and the 2018 original’s start of $80.2M (fourth best for the month), but after the crater left from Joker 2, heck, we’ll take a $70M start. Let’s hope that projection doesn’t buckle. At that level, Venom 3 would be the second best opening in 2024 for a comic-book feature after Deadpool & Wolverine‘s $211.4M.
Currently men under 25 are leading the way in unaided awareness (that category where those being polled organically bring up the title of the movie without being prompted in a survey) and first choice. Men over 25 are the second-strongest demo in both categories.
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Kelly Marcel who wrote the first two Venoms makes her feature directorial debut here on the Tom Hardy series. Through two movies, the Sony Marvel Venom franchise counts $1.36 billion at the global box office.
The only other movie going wide on Oct. 25 from a major studio is Focus Features’ critically acclaimed festival darling Conclave from Edward Berger which currently counts 91% fresh off 51 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.
Despite the clunkiness of the October B.O., Comscore says that the month’s first 13 days at $209.7M is +4% over the same period a year ago. Even though Joker 2 didn’t deliver, you can thank Warner Bros. for autumn’s robust business driven by Beetlejuice Beetlejuice; the post Labor Day frame totaling $760.6M, +17% over the same period through Oct. 13 a year ago.