Marvel and Sony Pictures Entertainment made box office gold over the weekend with the release of the ravenous Tom Hardy led Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Andy Serkis directs the Kelly Marcel screenplay that chronicles the meeting of a clout-hungry Eddie Brock (Hardy) and condemned serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) turned twin Venom nemesis. The action-adventure, sci-fi thriller showed in 4,225 theaters worldwide, accumulating a domestic box office gross of $90 million.
Venom: LTBC nabbed the No. 1 spot among films opening this weekend and the second top opening film in October behind the Warner Bros. pic Joker, which opened at $96.2 million on Oct. 4, 2019. The first installment of Venom grossed $80.3 million over its opening weekend on Oct. 5, 2018.
Fall season records Venom: LTBC in the No. 4 spot of top opening weekends by season. Warner Bros. films It Chapter Two (No. 3), Joker (No. 2), and It (No. 1), hold the top 3 spots.
Among the opening films for Oct. 1, The Addams Family 2 came in at No. 2 with a reported opening of $17.3 million. In its 5th week, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is fighting to stay in the top three, earning $1.6 million on Friday, $2.8 million on Saturday, and dropping by 39.4% to $1.7 million on Sunday. The Disney and Marvel collaboration, which broke records as the No. 1 top Labor Day opener, racked in a total $206 million domestically, and $387 million worldwide.
While critics are giving Venom: LTBC a harder time, a majority of moviegoers enjoyed the sequel. Nothing showed this better than the round of applause the film received upon rolling credits at multiple screenings. The audience score lands at 85% on Rotten Tomatoes.
It helps that there is a major development revealed at the end of the film and some people are already spoiling the surprise by posting the details on the Internet. One thing’s for sure is that comic book and Marvel fans definitely don’t want to miss this film as it intertwines with the other films in the Marvel Comic Universe (MCU).
