Venom : The Last Dance is certainly the worst thing that has happened this year in cinema, except at the box office where the Sony franchise bends, but does not break.
Venom : The Last Dancethe latest film from SSU (Sony's Spider-Man Universe), was released at the end of October and will arrive on VOD in the United States from December 10. His career in theaters is therefore coming to an end, the opportunity to take a financial health check of the saga which carried Sony's Marvel universe at arm's length with a washed-up Tom Hardy.
Hence the obvious signs of fatigue in this third part which is another success at the box office, but also not a success on par with the two previous films.
STILL THE VENOM OF THE SITUATION?
- 468 million at the worldwide box office
- 120 million de budget
Despite the murderous criticism, Venom 3 saved Sony from another slap after the already humiliating one of Madame Web which will undoubtedly be one of the biggest flops of 2024 in the middle of Borderlands, For Argy, The Crow and others The Fall Guy. Worse still, the film directed by Kelly Marcel is a commercial success. If it had to be confirmed, the symbiote is indeed the backbone of this Marvel universe at a discountwho could not count on Morbius (167 million at the worldwide box office) nor on Madame Web (100 million) to bring people to theaters.
However, it was probably time for the franchise to end given that this third (and normally last) opus also turns out to be the most expensive and the weakest of the trilogy. With less than 470 million dollars at the worldwide box office, the gap continued to widen compared to the first film (856 million for 100 million budget). The second had, for its part, exceeded the symbolic mark of 500 million dollars for 110 million in production costs (excluding marketing).
So far, the brand Venom was a heavyweight capable of overtaking much more established franchises. In 2018, Venom was thus the 7th biggest success of the year ahead of Mission : Impossible – Fallout et Deadpool 2. In 2021, Venom 2 was also the 7th biggest hit of the year, this time ahead of Godzilla vs Kong et Shang-Chi. But in 2024, Venom 3 is currently only 9tha few thousand dollars from Chinese films Successor (469.6 million) and YOLO (479 millions).
If he doubled several franchises like Beetlejuice 2, Joker 2the last SOS Fantômes et Furious (the last three being failures, however), Venom 3 did not do better than Kung-Fu Panda 4, Godzilla x Kong, Dune 2and the podium composed of Despicable Me 4, Deadpool & Wolverine et Vice-Versa 2.
In addition, the superhero film should go down another step or two and therefore leave the Top 10 given the record start of Vaiana 2 which should quickly catch up, without forgetting the breakthrough of the musical Wicked and the upcoming release of Mufasa (which will arrive after The Lion King and its 1.6 billion dollars in revenue).
Venom en road-trip
- 330 millions au box-office international
- 137 million at the domestic box office
Even if it was difficult, if not impossible, to achieve an international box office like that of the first opus of 2018 (more than 640 million, or 75% of total revenue), Venom 3 still raised more money outside the United States than the previous part directed by Andy Serkis. If Venom 2 peaked at 292 million without help from China, Venom 3 exceeded 330 million, including more than 14 million on the Chinese market, a far cry from the 269 million dollars which greatly boosted Ruben Fleischer's first film.
At home, however, the saga went downhillranking only 16th at the domestic box office. For comparison: Venom 2 was 3rd in 2021 and Venom 11th in 2018. If the two previous opuses pocketed 213 million in North America, the one where Sony can recover around half of the gain, Venom 3 settled for 137 million.
It is for example less than the prequel of Without a soundthe dramatic comedy It Ends with usor the disaster film Twisters. In three days, Vaiana 2 et Vice-Versa 2 thus earned more money in the United States than Venom 3 across its entire national operation. Deadpool 3he did it in two days.
In France too, the trend is downward with 1.3 million entries for the farewells of Venom and Eddie Brock, compared to 1.6 million for their reunion in 2021 and 2.2 million for their meeting in 2018.
Already the end of the Sony universe?
Now that Venom is dead, what could the Sony universe become? Unlike the MCU or the future DCU, the SSU does not seem to have a long-term vision, at least from an outside point of view. If there was ever a time to bring Spider-Man home, Tom Holland's superhero will stay with Kevin Feige and the Avengers for a while longer.
Yet, Venom 2 hinted at a future confrontation between the two enemies while Morbius wanted to find Peter Parker with the help of the Vulture. Even Spider-Man : No Way Home suggested the meeting between the symbiote and the New York teenager in its post-credits scene. But it all went up in smoke, producer Avi Arad having probably taken himself for the Thanos of his universe. In the end, the long-delayed meeting could finally take place…. but within the MCU in Spider-Man 4 (even though Sony will recover part of the revenue).
To return to the SSU, it's hard to imagine that Morbius and Madame Web will one day be able to emerge from the hole into which they fell after their failure at the box office and the obvious rejection of the public. The two surely brought down Michael Keaton's Vulture and the super-heroines of Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced and Celeste O'Connor, although that may sound like good news.
After Collar The Hunter on December 18, no film is planned within the SSU. The creator of the symbiotes, Knull, teased his return at the end of Venom 3 and another post-credits scene hinted that Agony, Dr. Paine's symbiote (it's all in the name), might also return. Ah, and there is alwayshe pile of symbiotic snot collected on a counter in Mexico which hangs out we don't really know where in the hands of we don't really know who. The universe therefore has some very slightly clear tracks, but still no path traced.
There was indeed this project ofHypno-Hustler announced by Donald Glover (who made a brief appearance in Spider-Man : Homecoming) in December 2022, but he has not given any news since. The movie The-Dead about a wrestling superhero played by Bad Bunny also seems to have been swept under the rug, just like the projects devoted to the superheroines Black Cat and Silver Sable. Suffice to say that Sony's universe seems as viable as Universal's Dark Universe…
Sony will always be able to console itself (and us too) with the upcoming arrival of the animated film Spider-Man : Beyond the Spider-Verseet the live-action series on Spider-Noir, with Nicolas Cage. The latter will be co-produced by Sony Television and Amazon MGM Studios for broadcast on Prime Video.
