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FRIDAY UPDATE AFTER EXCLUSIVE: Sony/Marvel’s Venom: The Last Dance is coming in at $8.5 million in previews. There was a feeling the third Venom would be slightly higher in previews, and here it is. As we told you last night, that beats the $7.6M previews of Dwayne Johnson and DC’s Black Adam and the $7.5M of Fast X.
The projected global weekend is now at $180M, which will be 5% higher than the global start of Venom: Let There Be Carnage ($171.6 million), this despite an expected domestic drop in the mid-$60M range, the lowest of any of the Venoms.
The threequel gets 3 1/2 stars on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak, which isn’t far from the original 2018 movie and the 2021 sequel’s four stars. Parents and kids under 12 gave the movie 5 stars. Slightly more dads went last night at 53%, but moms got pulled into this Tom Hardy movie, too, at 47%.
General audiences were men 65% for Kelly Marcel’s feature directorial debut, with 18-34s at 66%. The overall Rotten Tomatoes audience score is 77%.
‘Conclave‘
Meanwhile, Focus Features’ 93% certified fresh critically acclaimed Vatican thriller Conclave made $500,000 in collections at 1,500 theaters from previews that began at 2 p.m. Thursday night audiences gave the Ralph Fiennes film 3 1/2 stars on PostTrak and a 57% definite recommend. Mostly men attended last night at 62%. By the way, that’s the same amount of cash that We Live in Time made last Thursday from its second-step platform expansion. The outlook for Conclave is $4M-$6M. CAA Media Finance was the sales rep on Conclave.
‘We Live in Time’
A24’s wide break of We Live in Time in weekend 3 landed on PostTrak with 4 1/2 stars, 83% positive and 63% definite recommend off 61% females. In regular grosses, not including last night’s wide previews, the Andrew Garfield-Florence Pugh feature financed by Studio Canal drew an estimated $516K Thursday, -9% from Wednesday, for a $6.55M week and running total of $6.8M. The John Crowley-directed weepy romance is expected to ring up around $5M this weekend in its 2,000-theater break.
Paramount’s Smile 2 at 3,619 theaters led all movies in its first week with an estimated $31.2M; the Temple Hill production cost $28M before P&A. The horror pic led all titles in regular release yesterday with $1.4M, -21% from Wednesday.
PREVIOUSLY, Thursday PM EXCLUSIVE: Currently we hear that Sony/Marvel’s Venom: The Last Dance is eyeing around $8 million in previews tonight, maybe more by the morning. Showtimes began at 2 p.m. in the U.S. and Canada at 3,500 locations.
At that figure, there’s a path to a $65M opening, which we mentioned would rep the lowest start for the trilogy stateside after owning the third (2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage at $90M) and fourth (2018’s Venom) best openings for October. Yes, we expect more from superhero threequels, but this is Venom and the franchise always reaped significantly more abroad (anywhere from 60% to 75%) than domestic. Hence, the global number means more to the studio to make good on that $120M production cost before marketing spend.
Comps: 2022’s Black Adam saw $7.6M in previews before making $26.6M on its Friday and $67M for the weekend. There’s another similar comp in 2023’s Fast X, which had a $7.5M Thursday night, $28M Friday and $67M opening.
Recently, Warner Bros’ Joker: Folie à Deux posted $7M previews before falling apart to a $37.6M opening. However, that movie was sold under false pretenses to the fanboys, hence the D CinemaScore because they weren’t expecting to be knocked in the head by a musical. At least here with Last Dance, they’re getting what they paid for here in a zany, loopy Tom Hardy Venom movie.
Reviews are pretty bad for Venom: The Last Dance at 36% on Rotten Tomatoes — but they’re not the worst. That belongs to the first Venom at 30%. There was some improvement among film critics on part two at 57%. Both Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage earned B+ CinemaScores, which is healthy enough to make this also-ran antihero a tentpole.
Sony didn’t respond for comment on our industry projections tonight.
Venom: The Last Dance, directed by the franchise’s co-scribe Kelly Marcel in her behind-the-camera debut, is booked at 4,125 theaters.
Also opening this weekend is Focus Features’ Edward Berger-directed Vatican thriller Conclave and A24’s We Live in Time, which is going super wide at 2,000 theaters for its third frame.