Venom: The Last Dance’s Opening Day Box Office Is a Series Disappointment

Venom: The Last Dance is now in theaters, and as the final film in the trilogy, expectations were high. The reviews have been mixed overall for the film, and now the latest box office report doesn’t have especially great news either. Variety is reporting that The Last Dance brought in $22 million from 4,131 theaters stateside on Friday and through previews, which is considerably down from the first day debuts of the previous two films. This also puts it on pace to come up short in initial first weekend projections.

Those projections had The Last Dance bringing in $65 million over the weekend, but if the lower trend continues, that might not happen. For comparison, the original Venom film in 2018 hit $32 million on its first day, while 2021’s Let There Be Carnage brought in the highest amount of the trilogy with $37 million.

Continuing that comparison, the original Venom would go on to bring in over $80 million over its launch weekend, and would ultimately total over $856 million worldwide at the box office at the end of its theatrical run. Let There Be Carnage would best the opening weekend total of the original, bringing in over $90 million, but it wouldn’t hit the previous bar for total box office, as it ended its run with a worldwide total of over $506 million.

As for where this leaves The Last Dance, unless it ends up with long legs at theaters, it could end up falling below both the original film and its sequel in both the initial weekend and the total box office total. It has a chance to surpass Let There Be Carnage if the international audience really turns out like it did for both previous movies, but it would have to retain quite a bit of interest from week to week, and there are more movies on the way to take up attention.

It’s not all bad news though, as The Last Dance is still the biggest domestic opening since Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and it carries a lower blockbuster budget at $120 million. Right now the film has a B- Cinemascore, which isn’t bad at all, though it is down from the first two movies and their B+ score.

Joining Venom: The Last Dance in the top three are Smile 2, which moves into second place in its second week. Smile 2 looks to bring in $10.3 million in its second week, which would be a 55% fall from its opening last week, and if projections land, it would cross the $40 million mark after the weekend is done. At third place is Conclave, which earned $2.5 million from 1,753 theaters on its first day at theaters. It holds s B+ Cinemascore.

There’s also the much talked bout Terrifier 3,which has brought in $4.5 million so far in its third weekend. If predictions hold, it will clear $44 million through the weekend, which will impressively triple the totals of both Terrifier and Terrifier 2.

Where do you think Venom: The Last Dance will land at the end of its opening weekend? You can talk all things movies and marvel with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!