Friday Afternoon Update: The opening day of Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage 2021 will definitely be one for the record books. After seeing a bulk of walk-up business last night as well as strong advance ticket sales, the pic is looking at a Friday definitely in the high $20Ms on its way to $30M. This includes last night’s $11.6M previews, which saw a strong turnout from Latino and Hispanic moviegoers at 25% and PLF and Imax ticket sales repping 32% of Thursday’s business. This all speaks to those who are returning to cinemas for big event pics during the pandemic are splurging. This should easily put Venom 2 in the mid-to-high $60M range for the weekend. I will say that rival studios have it higher. Any conservative projections here stem from the unpredictable nature of Saturday night business during the pandemic and how front-loaded Venom 2 might be. Obviously, the hot word of mouth from Monday’s fan screening at Universal Citywalk is spreading: California repped 24% of last night’s ticket sales for the Tom Hardy produced, story by and starring Marvel sequel. Sony is really respecting the theatrical window here with Venom 2: I hear the movie is on a window that far exceeds 45 days. Rotten Tomatoes is up to 60% fresh now.
The top four opening days at the October box office are Joker ($39.3M, Oct. 4, 2019), Halloween ($33M, Oct. 19, 2018), Venom ($32.5M, Oct. 5, 2018), and Paranormal Activity 3 ($26.3M, Oct. 21, 2011). Venom 2 is definitely north of Paranormal Activity 3.
MGM/UAR/Bron Creative’s The Addams Family 2 will take the No. 2 spot with a $4.5M Friday (including last night’s previews) and weekend that’s at $14M-$16M booked at 4,207 theaters in the No. 2 spot. As we told, the movie is available in homes for $19.99 as a 48-hour PVOD rental. Rotten Tomatoes is at 22%, but it’s a kids’ movie, and they don’t care about critics.
Warner Bros.’ The Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark at 3,181 theaters is seeing between $2.5M-$3M on its way to third with $7M. Many theaters aren’t starting showtimes until 3pm. The pic, a spinoff of the award-winning HBO series, is also available on HBO Max. Among the wide releases, the pic has the best reviews at 76% fresh on RT.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings Movie at 3,455 theaters is seeing a fifth Friday of $1.7M, -52%, and a weekend of $6.5M, -50%, for a running total by EOD Sunday of $206.5M. It’s the only major studio movie at the domestic box office to reach that level, but there’s more competition yet to come this month.
Universal’s Dear Evan Hansen will take 5th place at 3,364 theaters with $750K today, -77% from last Friday, and a second weekend of $2.4M, -68%, for a ten-day of $11.7M.
All together with everything, many are figuring another $100M+ weekend during the pandemic. Exhibitors, studios, moviegoers, popcorn manufacturers — everybody wins.
Friday AM Update: Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage Movie rang up a great $11.6M Thursday night from showtimes that began at 4PM yesterday at 3,500 theaters. That’s the second best we’ve seen during the pandemic after Disney/Marvel’s Black Widow which grossed $13.2M on Thursday night from shows that began at 5PM (sans Disney+ Premier for the night). Even better news: That preview haul is higher than that of the 2018 movie which did $10M off showtimes that began at 5PM. Venom went on to do a $32.5M first day and $80.2M opening weekend, which is the second best ever for the month of October.
Disney/Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings follows in ranking among big pandemic Thursday nights with $8.8M from showtimes at 6 p.m., and then Universal’s F9 which did $7.1M off 7PM showtimes.
We had previously heard that the first day advance ticket sales for Andy Serkis-directed movie were quite potent. The current Rotten Tomatoes’ review rating for Venom 2 is at 58% Rotten, which is higher than the 2018’s first installment of 30% Rotten. We’ll see how audience exits settle. They’re always high with fans on Thursday night and even out by tonight. Fans at an AMC Universal Citywalk screening Monday night went bonkers for the Tom Hardy sequel.
Sony has told the media that they’re comping the sequel to A Quiet Place Part II which did $47.5M over its 3 days of Memorial Day weekend, however, other tracking services and even major exhibitors’ own internal projections have Venom 2 over $60M. Venom 2 is already far ahead of A Quiet Place 2 with its preview night making 2.4x more than that horror film which did $4.8M.
MGM/United Artists Release Pipeline Movie held previews that began at 4pm. The pic is booked at 4,207 locations and available for a 48-hour rental on PVOD for $19.99. The pic is expected to gross in the high teens over three days. The first movie back in 2019, also directed by Conrad Vernon and which was on a theatrical window, opened to $30.3M. We hear that Addams Family 2 did $550K last night from roughly 2,500 theaters.
Voltage Pictures’ had two special showings of YA romance threequel After We Fell which collected a solid $627K from both the 7pm and 10pm Fathom Events shows.
Warner Bros.’ The Many Saints of Newark which is going day-and-date theatrical on HBO Max did not hold Thursday night previews.
Disney’s Shang-Chi grossed over $200M yesterday, the first movie at the domestic box office to reach that feat during the pandemic of the last 20 months. We already reported a week ago that the MCU title surpassed Black Widow to becomes the highest grossing movie of the pandemic in U.S. and Canada.