‘Venom 2’ Opens to $124 Million Internationally, $175 Million Globally

“Venom: The Last Dance” feasted on $124 million at the international box office, a mighty start that will help to offset the comic book threequel’s sluggish domestic debut.

The third and final entry in Sony’s Marvel spinoff series, led by Tom Hardy as an investigative journalist and alien symbiote, captured a muted $51 million in North America for a global start of $175 million. Internationally, those ticket sales rank as the third largest Hollywood opening of 2024 in like markets, behind Disney’s “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine.”

“Venom 3” carries a $120 million price tag, not including worldwide promotional efforts. While that’s far leaner than most superhero tentpoles (this year’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Joker: Folie à Deux” each cost $200 million before marketing), the third “Venom” needs to continue resonating with international audiences to justify its production budget. That’s because theater owners get to keep about 50% of revenues. After much bigger starts, the first “Venom” powered to $856 million worldwide while “Let There Be Carnage” surpassed $500 million worldwide. 

“The Last Dance” is playing 64 markets on 53,700 screens and enjoyed the biggest start in China with $46 million over five days, the biggest start for a superhero movie in the country since 2019’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home.” Other top territories were Mexico with $7.3 million, South Korea with $5.8 million, the United Kingdom with $5.7 million and India with $4.7 million.

Elsewhere at the international box office, “The Wild Robot” added $17.5 million from 79 markets. The animated adventure from Universal and DreamWorks has grossed a solid $120.9 million overseas and $232 million globally to date.

Also this weekend, Paramount’s scary sequel “Smile 2” generated $12.6 million from 67 territories in its second weekend of release. The follow-up to 2022’s “Smile” has grossed $43 million overseas and $83.7 million worldwide against a $28 million budget.