Venom is one of the most popular Marvel comics characters there is today, but sadly this fandom hasn’t always translated to big ticket sales when showing up on the big screen. In fact, with each new entry into the Venom franchise, this alien creature seems to be growing smaller.
The first installment of Venom was released back in 2018 and earned more than $80 million in domestic sales during its opening weekend. This was followed by the sequel in 2021, the Woody Harrelson-starring Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which was able to improve on this opening take despite being released during the pandemic.
That sequel installment managed to break pandemic opening weekend records with a whopping $90 million haul. Sadly, however, that trend of growth has not been followed up by most recent entry Venom: The Last Dance.
The Last Dance opened to just $51 million domestically over the weekend according to Variety, setting a record for the trilogy for all of the wrong reasons. Fortunately for Sony, there is still hope for the movie — the studio’s latest foray into the Spider-Man universe — because while fans in the US have chosen to avoid seeing it in theaters, international audiences seem to still be willing to pay their hard-earned cash to see this Symbiote do the dance.
The threequel opened to $124 million in the international market, taking its total earnings to some $175 million in its opening weekend. That might seem like a lot of money, but it’s still a ways off in terms of living up to the previous films. During its complete theatrical run, Venom (2018) reached $856 million in its total take which was an incredible achievement for the franchise. While Let There Be Carnage didn’t climb so high, the sequel still made a commendable $500 million around the globe which is impressive given the circumstances at the time.
While critics haven’t been shy with their thoughts on the film, which is currently sitting at an abysmal 37 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, this isn’t likely to be the reason for the poor ticket sales. In fact, each Venom installment has met the same fate of poor critic reviews, but as is the case for The Last Dance, fan reviews have been overwhelmingly positive.
It’s also important to note that while its debut was somewhat lackluster, The Last Dance was still the number one movie at the domestic box office this week, and its international opening was the third biggest of the year behind Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine. Those films are good company to keep and should provide some optimism that The Last Dance might still be considered a win for Sony.
The Last Dance concludes the Venom trilogy and could mean that Tom Hardy’s time as the Symbiote is finally over. Of course, this is a Marvel film and given how the MCU has folded Sony properties into its narrative over the years, there’s always a chance that Eddie Brock will be back for a future Spider-Man story.
If you’re eager to add to the box office tally and see just how Eddie and Venom conclude their enemies-to-brothers arc, then you can head out and see Venom: The Last Dance in theaters around the globe right now.