With ticket sales estimated at $51 million, the new Columbia/Marvel superhero movie “Venom: The Last Dance” easily topped the North American box office despite falling short of the openings of the series’ two previous episodes, according to industry watchers.
“Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” the follow-up to the original “Venom,” had enjoyed a $96 million opening weekend in 2021, but “Last Dance” faced stiff competition for viewers from a baseball World Series featuring the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers.
With a cast that includes Rhys Ifans, Juno Temple, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tom Hardy once again portrays a disgruntled journalist who transforms into a fearsome alien with enormous, jagged fangs and what has been called a Gene Simmons tongue.
Meanwhile, with Halloween just a few days away, industry observer Exhibitor Relations reported on Sunday that Paramount’s horror movie “Smile 2” took in $40.7 million, dropping just one spot from its opening weekend. A troubled pop star with a sinister curse is portrayed by Naomi Scott.
Third place went to the new religious thriller “Conclave” from FilmNation, with $6.5 million. Ralph Fiennes, playing a cardinal called on to “manage” the election of a new pope, finds himself caught in shadowy, back-stabbing intrigue while wrestling with questions of his own faith — and ambition.
Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow play fellow cardinals, each with his own agenda, and Isabella Rossellini is a nun of steely countenance.
With “sensational critics’ reviews,” the movie is in a strong position to win Best Picture at the Oscars, according to analyst David A. Gross. The film, based on a thriller by Robert Harris, was directed by Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front”).
“The Wild Robot,” a film from Universal and DreamWorks Animation about a robot who must get along with fuzzy woodland creatures after becoming abandoned on a distant island, came in fourth place, down two spots. The revenue was $6.5 million.
And hanging steady in fifth was “We Live in Time,” a romantic drama from StudioCanal, at $4.8 million. Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh star.Rounding out the top 10 were:
“Terrifier 3” ($4.8 million)
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” ($3.2 million)
“Anora” ($867,000)
“Piece by Piece” ($720,000)
“Transformers One” ($720,000)
