Back in early October, you may recall how the week of Venom’s release got off to a pretty shaky start, with early reactions to Eddie Brock’s first solo outing suggesting that Sony might have a disaster on its hands. But once Ruben Fleischer’s symbiote story actually came out in theaters, the film’s commercial performance exceeded expectations. And thanks to the Sony flick’s ongoing success in China, the movie’s latest numbers put its worldwide box office total at a remarkable $780.5 million.
This figure places Venom at number 84 in the all-time box office rankings, edging out the original 1977 Star Wars when you don’t adjust for inflation. To put this total into a more modern context, the Tom Hardy vehicle is closing in on Deadpool’s figure of $783.1 million, and is also looking to surpass Spider-Man 2’s gross of $783.8 million.
Speaking of which, Venom is now a far more profitable film than any of the Spider-Man features when viewed in terms of it gross-to-budget ratio, demonstrating that much of the public feels Eddie can carry his own movie just fine without his most famous adversary. And while a sequel has yet to be officially announced, it’s long been understood that Venom 2 is a go, with the first outing even setting up the arrival of Carnage in its mid-credits sequence.
What’s more, it’s pretty clear that everyone disappointed by the first Venom’s PG-13 rating aren’t about to get some good news, with producer Avi Arad pleading his case last month that graphic violence won’t be necessary for doing the murderous Cletus Kasady justice. With that in mind, some of you may already be dreading the sequel’s arrival, but it’s evident that there are more than enough viewers who’d be open to a second outing from Hardy’s antihero.
Published: Nov 18, 2018 08:37 pm