411 Box Office Report: Venom: The Last Dance Soft At #1, Scores Overseas

Venom: The Last Dance won the box office this weekend with a domestic underperformance but made it up overseas. The concluding entry in Sony’s Marvel antihero trilogy took the top spot with $51 million domestically. That’s well below the $60 million to $70 million that was expected coming into the weekend, and a very far cry from both the $90 million start of Venom: Let There be Carnage in 2021 and the $80.3 million bow of Venom in 2018.

On the surface, this marks the latest financial disappointment from Sony regarding their Spider-Man Universe alongside February’s Madame Web and 2022’s Morbius. But unlike those films, The Last Dance is soaring overseas with $124 million for a $175 million worldwide opening weekend. For a film that cost $120 million, that’s a fine start that belies the assumption that Sony miscalculated too much here.

In fairness, the third Venom film was never expected to match its predecessors in terms of domestic numbers. Venom and Let There Be Carnage were always considered to be somewhat unlikely successes anyway; the films have not been the most well-regarded, but they’ve scored with fans. The Last Dance, however, is the first to come since Morbius and Madame Web turned Sony’s side-Marvel universe into a perceived failure and that clearly affected this film’s grosses.

It should be noted that Venom: The Last Dance also didn’t have a huge amount of buzz going into the weekend. Critic reviews are bad at a 36% aggregated average on Rotten Tomatoes, but that’s still better than the first Venom’s 30% (Let There Be Carnage is the series high at 56%). That said, audience word of mouth is also considerably weaker at a B- CinemaScore and 79% RT audience score compared to a B+ for the other two and 80%-plus.

All that said, the overseas numbers are lifting this well and the film should be fine as a whole. Domestically it seems likely to cross the $120 million mark, and the overseas numbers will put it at a profit point. Still, it does continue to raise questions about the viability of the Sony Spider-Man Universe, ones that Kraven the Hunter will have to reckon with when it bows in December.

Smile 2 took a hit in its second weekend, as the film dropped 59% to $9.4 million. That wasn’t unexpected and is not bad for a horror sequel, though it’s way off the first film which only fell 12% in its sophomore frame. None of this is particularly worrying to Paramount Pictures, who are already into profit with $40.7 million domestically and $83.7 million worldwide against a $28 million budget. Smile 2 is looking likely for around $55 million by the end of its domestic run, which will be a minor disappointment but far from a failure.

Coming in at #3 was Conclave. Focus Features’ religious thriller brought in $6.5 million in its first frame, which is about where analysts expected it to land. That comes thanks to strong critical buzz (a 92% RT aggregated score) and positive word of mouth (82% RT audience score, a B+ CinemaScore).

Conclave largely flew under the radar and tried to thread the needle between faith-based dramas and more mainstream fare; it is set within the Catholic church but doesn’t carry the trappings or approach of recent religious hits, which tend toward inspirational dramas over conspiracy thrillers. The results were acceptable, putting the film in a position where Focus will likely make its money back once the movie hits Digital/VOD. As it stands, the film has yet to release overseas and will do through in the coming weeks and months, leading to an eventual profit. Domestically it will probably finish around $15 million against a $20 million budget.

The Wild Robot was off a light 36% in its fifth weekend to bring in $6.5 million. The Universal Pictures animated film has now tallied up $111.4 million domestically and $232.3 million worldwide, making it a nice against its $75 million production budget. The movie is targeting a domestic total of around $125 million.

We Live in Time expanded into full wide release this weekend and stayed at #5, up 15% to $4.8 million. The Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh romantic drama is doing well enough for A24 with $11.8 million domestically and $12 million worldwide. No word on its budget, but it should end its run at around $17 million to $18 million.

Terrifier 3 was down 49% in its third weekend with $4.8 million, pushing its totals to $44.5 million domestically and $55.1 million worldwide. That’s huge profit for the CineVerse against a $2 million budget. The film is looking at over $50 million domestically with ease, and very likely higher than that.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was down 35% in its eighth weekend to gross $3.2 million. The supernatural comedy has $288.7 million domestically and $438.9 million worldwide, a massive hit against a $100 million budget. It’s looking likely to close out with around $295 million.

Anora made its debut in the top 10, hitting #8 with $867,000 in a mere 34 theaters. That’s a very impressive per-theater average, more than double any other film in the top 10. Sean Baker’s sex worker dramedy, which stars Mikey Madison, is riding high off a massive amount of buzz both critical and otherwise. The film has had award season buzz since it debuted at Cannes in May and came into the weekend with a 99% RT critic score. The audience reaction is very high as well with an 89% RT audience score.

Anora reps another win in a banner year for NEON, who previously scored in 2024 with horror hits Longlegs and Immaculate. The studio will be platforming up this film’s release to build momentum, particularly toward award season. Thus far it has $1.6 million domestically and $2.2 million worldwide with no word on its budget. How high it climbs depends on how NEON handles the successive weeks.

Piece By Piece took a heavy hit in its third weekend, off 65% to $720,000 . The LEGO-animated Pharrell Williams biopic has now totaled $8.9 million is looking at around $12 million domestically, with profit once it hits digital against a $16 million budget.

Venom: The Last Dance should hold at #1 next weekend as the only major release is Robert Zemeckis’ Here, which is aiming for a mid-single digits start.

BOX OFFICE TOP TEN (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)
1. Venom: The Last Dance – $51 million ($51 million total, $175 million WW)
2. Smile 2 – $9.4 million ($40.7 million total, $83.7 million WW)
3. Conclave – $6.5 million ($6.5 million total, $6.5 million WW)
4. The Wild Robot – $6.5 million ($111.4 million total, $232.3 million WW)
5. We Live In Time – $4.8 million ($11.8 million total, $12 million WW)
6. Terrifier 3 – $4.8 million ($44.5 million total, $55.1 million WW)
7. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – $3.2 million ($288.7 million total, $438.9 million WW)
8. Anora – $867,000 ($1.6 million total, $2.2 million WW)
9. Piece By Piece – $720,000 ($8.9 million total, $8.9 million WW)
10. Transformers One – $720,000 ($57.9 million total, $124.1 million WW)