(Photo: Sony Pictures)
Sony Pictures’ Marvel sequel “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” blew away expectations. Debut with $90.1 million in ticket sales, making it easy. The best opening of the pandemic, according to studio estimates Sunday.
“Venom: Let There Be Carnage” is forecast to open with half that total. But the film, which is playing exclusively in theaters, exceeded even the debut of the 2018 original. “Venom,” the “Spider-Man” offshoot that introduced Tom Hardy’s parasitic alien symbiote, launched with $80.3 million. Only 2019′s “Joker” ($96.2 million) has ever opened bigger in October.
Both “Let There Be Carnage” and MGM’s “No Time to Die” originally set to open last year. Believing the best box-office return would happen with an exclusive release in theaters. Both studios (neither of which has a major streaming platform) held out for better moviegoing conditions.
“No Time to Die,” which opens in North America on Friday, launched with $119.1 million in 54 overseas markets. The pace, according to MGM and Universal Pictures was roughly in line with the opening for “Skyfall.” Following its London premiere last week, “No Time to Die” — the 25th Bond film and Daniel Craig’s last outing as the super spy — grossed $25.6 million in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Its $11.4 million on Saturday there was the best box office day for any Bond film on its home turf.
“Films can only become cultural when people see them together on the biggest, best screens and have that experience as a group,” said Josh Greenstein, president of Sony Motion Pictures Group. “You can’t replicate that by yourself at home.”