Venom: The Last Dance Hits Box Office Jackpot Overseas
Despite opening to an all-time low collection of $51 million in the franchise in North America, Venom: The Last Dance has witnessed success in the overseas market. Sony Studios predicted a box office collection of $65 million in the opening week but the film fizzled right after its release. All hope was lost until it started outperforming its initial predictions abroad.
Venom: The Last Dance went on to make $175 million in its opening week, securing itself a successful run in markets outside North America. The film registered a $46 million opening in China alone, the biggest in recent times.
Smashing all expectations, it is currently outperforming its business predictions and has successfully entered Hollywood’s Top 20 Highest Grossing Films in post-COVID times.
The Tom Hardy film about a sassy symbiote is the last one of the trilogy and has received mixed reactions from film critics. Even its production budget, barring marketing and promotional costs, was capped at only $120 million, significantly less than other comic book-inspired films. As the last film of the trilogy, it was not even expected to perform at par with its predecessors.
But that did not stop it from pushing Kung Fu Panda 4 out of the Top 20 club and entering the big leagues. And, by the trend of ticket sales, it seems like Venom: The Last Dance will keep the cash registers ringing loud and clear for the coming days.
Even though the Venom franchise does not enjoy the fan fervor of Marvel’s Spiderman and Spider-Verse movies, it has been successful in making profits. And, only one man can be credited with its glowing performance — Sony’s studio chief Tom Rothman. He is undoubtedly the mastermind behind The Last Dance’s overseas success and his cost-conscious strategy seems to be working in the favor of the studio.
He has been experimenting with Marvel’s not-so-famous characters related to Spiderman and producing films that have turned out to be surprise earners. Rothman is aiming for success again with Sony’s upcoming release Kraven The Hunter that has received an R rating.
Comscore’s chief box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian has said, “This approach to filmmaking can be lucrative and creatively rewarding when done correctly. Conversely, it can diminish brand equity, audience goodwill and kill the proverbial box office golden goose if executed poorly.”
“The bottom line is that it comes down to the quality of the movies, the appeal of the lessor-known characters and, most importantly, marketing strategies that make clear for uninitiated moviegoers the plot, point of view and tone of the film,” he added.
