Box office: Venom 3 disappoints and sets a sad record for the Marvel trilogy

The cinema year continues to be one of disappointments. After the failures of Furiosa, Blue & Company, Horizon And Joker: Folie à Deuxit's the turn of Venom: The Last Dance to start below expectations. The Marvel film does much less than the two previous opuses.

Venom says thank you to China

While we expected it to be around 65 million, “Venom 3” ultimately ended its first weekend of operation at $51 million. It thus marks the worst start of the trilogy, far from that of the first film (80.2 million in 2018) and its sequel (90 million in 2021). A result which can be explained in particular by the baseball final between the Dodgers and the Yankees, which kept the Americans at home.

The Sony production (in association with Marvel) is saved thanks to good international results (124 million) and in particular in China where it gleaned 45.9 million in 5 days, thanks to its broadcast on 136,000 screens. It thus marks the second best start of an American film in the territory in 2024, behind Godzilla x Kong: The New Kingdom (44.6 million in 3 days) and far ahead Alien: Romulus (26.2 million).

Venom: The Last Dance is therefore finally a profitable Marvel film for Sony after the failure of Madame Web. It's also thanks to its budget (120 million), less exorbitant than the majority of superhero productions. However, it should not reach the tops of Venom And Venom: Let There be Carnagewhich had respectively totaled 856 million and 501 million dollars upon their releases.

Just behind, Smile 2 held up well for its second weekend of operation (-59%) and added 9.4 million to its bag. Last week's horror sensation brings its worldwide cume to $83.7 million. If this is far from the success of the first film – which ended its career at 217 million – it easily amortized its small budget (17 million), and a third opus is undoubtedly in the pipeline.

In third place, The Wild Robot takes another 6.5 million and finally exceeds the 200 million mark worldwide. Each week it confirms its status as a long-term family success a little more.

Finally, note the film's arrival in the top 5 Conclave with Ralph Fiennes, which records 6.5 million for its first weekend. This thriller set in the heart of the Vatican is off to a better start than expected, thanks in particular to marketing and word of mouth which positions it as one of the favorites for the next awards season (Oscars and company). So to be continued.