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.
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.