Despite a lot of new competition to contend with, Eddie and his Marvel-ous symbiote had little trouble claiming another box-office weekend win.
Venom: The Last Dance earned an estimated $26.1 million in North America this weekend—more than triple the take of its nearest competitor. That weekend windfall pushed The Last Dance to $90 million overall stateside. Add in its overseas earnings, and The Last Dance has tangoed to $317 million.
But Venom was hardly the only familiar face in the box office’s top five. And that doesn’t bode well for the weekend’s hefty slate of newcomers.
The Wild Robot continued its impressive run, sliding back into second place with $7.6 million. The film has now earned $121.5 million in North America and $269.1 million globally. I gather it’s even generating a bit of Oscar buzz, as well—not just for best animated feature but Best Picture.
While it’ll never win any awards, Smile 2 also had plenty to grin about. Its $6.8 million take was good enough for third place. The horror flick has now gobbled up $52.7 million domestically.
Conclave, a controversial awards contender that has charmed secular critics (but didn’t do much for us) finished fourth with $5.3 million.
The box office’s first top-five newcomer for the weekend is Here. No, really. It’s called Here, and it earned $5 million to finish fifth. That’s not a great start for a film that stars box-office heavyweights Tom Hanks and Robin Wright. But Here can take solace in that it ended up here—that is, in the top five—and not out there, which is where the rest of the newbies landed.
How did some of the most notable newcomers fare? The Liam Neeson thriller Absolution finished 12th with $1.4 million, suggesting that the star’s particular set of skills may be fading a bit. The family film Hitpig! landed in the unlucky 13th slot, earning just $783,000. Lost on a Mountain in Maine got a little lost itself, earning just $380,000 for 16th place. And The Carpenter—a Christian film about a Scandinavian MMA-style fighter living in ancient Palestine and who hangs with a very special wood-based artisan—carved out just $140,000 to finish 22nd.
2 Responses
I think I’m going to see “Here” tomorrow, even though the reviews have been disappointing (only 36% at Rotten Tomatoes). The reason I want to see it is because I loved the source material: Richard McGuire’s simple six page comic (later expanded into a much longer graphic novel) first published in 1989. The concept was fascinating: One location, one static viewpoint, but envisioned at many different points in time. I hope I enjoy it more than the critics.
FOLLOW-UP: Yesterday after voting, I went to see “Here,” and I loved it. I even got a bit misty-eyed toward the end. The low score at Rotten Tomatoes mystifies me. Perhaps most of the critics weren’t familiar with the source material, Richard McGuire’s graphic novel that features a static point of view MOSTLY in a home inhabited by different generations, but also in the distant past before the home is built, and the distant future long after the home is gone. My only complaint about the movie is that is didn’t look into that future at all. But overall I enjoyed it far, FAR more than the critics. 9 out of 10 stars for me.