‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ Sets New Opening Weekend Box Office Record
The movie box office is slowly recovering with big action and comic movies going theater only.
The sequel pulled in $90.1 million in its debut weekend – the highest we’ve seen since the emergence of covid and larger than the first movie’s opening weekend pre-pandemic ($80 million back in 2018). This boots Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings off that particular pedestal (we’ll see if Venom can hold that spot for more than four weeks), which brought in $71.4 Million it’s opening weekend.
Sony’s executives and industry insiders are attributing this to the movie being released just in theaters, which also worked out well for Shang-Chi. Both Sony Picture’s president and distribution heads are saying that this “reaffirms the importance of the theatrical widow” – especially for movies built for bigger screens.
David A. Gross from Franchise Entertainment Research told Variety:
“Young adult audiences are less deterred by current pandemic conditions than older and family moviegoers, which is benefitting superhero, action and horror movies. For these movies, playing exclusively on the big screen is clearly an advantage.”
The folks behind No Time to Die are banking on that audience to come out this week to see Daniel Craig’s farewell performance, too.
While Warner Bros. has stuck with their theaters and HBO Max simultaneous release schedule for the rest of the year, Marvel has halted their hybrid release model. They’re hoping that audiences will put on their masks and hit theaters for Eternals and Spider-Man: No Way Home (I’m sure that lawsuit over payout with Scarlet Johansson also helped with that decision).
What’s going to be interesting to see are the numbers for Dune and The Matrix Resurrections. Both are hybrid releases that will arrive on HBO Max the same day they hit theaters. The streaming/theater model was a blessing and a curse for previous movies. Black Widow being the prime example – it pulled in $80 million in theaters and $60 million via Disney Plus’s premiere access platform. Suicide Squad had a $26 million opening weekend in theaters, with many opting to watch on HBO Max at home.
Are you going to theaters? What’s drawing you to see movies on the big screen instead of staying home?
