'Venom 3' drops to $51 million, lowest opening weekend for comic book trilogy

“Venom: The Last Dance” is No. 1 at the box office, but the comic book film falls significantly short of expectations.

The third and final entry in Sony's Marvel antihero series, led by Tom Hardy, opened to a muted $51 million from 4,125 theaters in North America. Rival studios estimate the final weekend number to be under $50 million. Those ticket sales were far behind estimates of $65 million and well below the previous two installments, 2018's “Venom,” which opened to $80 million, and 2021's “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” which opened to a then-pandemic record $90. million

Despite a soft start in North America, the “Spider-Man” spinoff is gaining traction from international audiences. “Venom 3” feasted on $124 million overseas on a $175 million global debut.

“The Last Dance” cost $120 million to produce, not including worldwide marketing efforts. That's far less than superhero movies like “Deadpool and Wolverine” and “Joker: Folly a Deux,” which each cost more than $200 million. Yet since theater owners get to keep about half of ticket sales, the third “Venom” will have to stick around on the big screen beyond its debut to justify that price tag. After a much bigger opening, the first “Venom” drove to $856 million worldwide while “Let There Be Carnage” surpassed $500 million worldwide.

The series has never been a critical darling, and the latest installment is no exception with a 37% on Rotten Tomatoes. Yet fans may be tiring of the franchise, as audience members gave the movie a “B-“, the lowest grade of the trilogy on MovieScore. Kelly Marcel, who wrote the first two films, directed the PG-13 trilogy, starring Hardy as investigative journalist Eddie Brock and his unwitting sidekick and parasite Venom, both of whom are on the run from their world.

“It was a step down in terms of content, and it was painfully obvious to viewers just by the trailer,” said Jeff Bock, an analyst at Exhibitor Relations. “Superhero fans want the stakes to rise with each successive installment — which didn't happen with 'The Last Dance'.”

Overall box office returns are 11.4% at the same point in 2023 and 26.8% behind 2019. Most major studios didn't want to release a movie around the election, so the only titles on the calendar in the coming weeks are Sony's “Here,” a poorly reviewed drama directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright (Nov. 1), and Amazon's Christmas comedy “Red One,” starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Santa's security guard (Nov. 15). Otherwise, after “Gladiator 2” and “Wicked” on Nov. 22 and “Moana 2” on Nov. 27, there won't be another tentpole to salvage the movie's status.

“Moviegoing is returning to its sunken state. 'Joker 2' left a hole, and 'Venom 3' is not filling it,” said David A. Gross, who runs movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research “There's a little momentum now.”

To that end, “Joker: Folie à Deux” slipped to No. 12 in its fourth weekend, grossing a disappointing $600,000 from 1,243 venues. The follow-up to 2019's billion-dollar hit “Joker” turned out to be a box office disaster with $57.8 million domestically and $201.1 million worldwide. By comparison, the original “Joker” remained in the top two for five weeks and grossed $335 million domestically and $21.07 billion worldwide. The $200 million-budgeted Warner Bros. The sequel won't gross anywhere near that much and will lose $150 million to $200 million in its theatrical run.

Another new release, the Ralph Fiennes-led thriller “Conclave,” opened above expectations at No. 3 with $6.5 million from 1,753 theaters. “Conclave,” directed by Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front”), is a tense Vatican-set drama about the election of a new pope — which brings with it mysteries that could shake the foundations of the church. Focus Features has acquired domestic rights to the PG film, which has strong reviews and hopes to find itself in the Oscar race. Audiences also liked “Conclave,” which received a “B+” on CinemaScore. The majority of ticket buyers are older men, with 77% over the age of 35 and 54% identifying as male.

“It's a very good opening for an awards play,” Gross said. “The Catholic Church provides an endless supply of dramatic, cinematic material.”

Elsewhere at the domestic box office, Paramount's thriller “Smile 2” moved into second place with $9.6 million, down 59% from its debut. The R-rated sequel to 2022's “Smile,” which topped the box office last weekend, earned $40.7 million in North America and $83 million worldwide. It cost $28 million and would become profitable, though not as successful as the original, which grossed $105 million in North America and $217 million worldwide.

Universal and DreamWorks Animation's “The Wild Robot” dropped to No. 4 with $6.2 million in its fifth weekend of release. The well-reviewed family film has survived with minimal week-to-week drops at the box office, grossing $111 million domestically and $232 million worldwide so far.

A24's weepy romantic drama “We Live in Time” finished fifth with $4.8 million as it expanded to 1,939 theaters. The film, which stars Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh as a young couple in overwhelming circumstances, has grossed $11.7 million so far.

Meanwhile, Sean Baker's Palme d'Or-winning “Anora” rounded out the top 10 with $867,142 from just 34 venues — translating to a strong $25,504 per location. Neon grabbed the rights to the film at Cannes and will continue to expand the footprint for “Anora,” a comic look at a foreign dancer and sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch, through the fall and into awards season.