Box Office: 'Venom 3' Tops Friday But Drops 70% As 'Here' Bombs With $1.95M

A weak Friday in a weak weekend since (perhaps understandably) Hollywood kept their tentpoles out of the path of potential Election Day melodrama.

I’d typically be on a rant about another essentially empty weekend in what is usually prime theatrical real estate. However, since I imagine there’s a certain trepidation about debuting an important biggie or tentpole just before and after the presidential election, I’ll let it slide just this once. And there is not a ton of “spicy” grosses to report; this Friday's box office report is un-paywalled. I’m raising prices by a dollar or two next month, so if you want to get in cheaper, do it now. And if you’re already on the “nice list,” share with your friends and industry contracts so that those on the “naughty list” know what they’re missing.

Warner Bros. Discovery did not report Friday earnings for Clint Eastwood’s Juror No. 2, although Deadline is claiming around $90,000 for Friday. So, let’s guestimate a $250,000 weekend and thus a $5,000 per-theater average. The film is essentially a Max original that got a 50-screen release as a glorified courtesy. Ironically, the extent to which that has backfired on them in terms of media coverage (I have… mixed feelings on the whole situation) ensures that they probably won’t do it again. Nonetheless, the only high-profile opener this weekend was Robert Zemeckis’ Here.

The film chronicles multiple generations of couples and families as they inhabit the same house for over a century, with the hook/gimmick being that the camera never moves from the center of the house’s “living room.” It’s an interesting science experiment of a movie, and frankly, I appreciated how grim, downbeat and non-nostalgic its family portraits turned out to be. It’s also thus pretty damn depressing, and a hell of a lot less commercial and “fun” than (for example) Robert Zemeckis’ (Denzel Washington-starring) Flight or Tom Hanks’ A Man Called Otto. As such, with poor reviews and little buzz, the $1.95 million Friday and likely $5 million opening weekend isn’t a shock.

Sony is distributing the $45 million Miramax flick, but this isn’t exactly a “for the love of the game” win. Based on Richard McGuire’s graphic novel and adapted by Eric Roth, the picture was mainly sold as “from the director, screenwriter and stars of Forrest Gump.” The fact that the industry is still essentially relying on the prestige of acclaimed blockbusters that came out 30 years ago (or, with Saturday Night, television shows that first premiered fifty years ago) is yet another indictment of our current pop culture, which mostly failed to generate new movie stars and new marquee directors. Thus, we must hope yesteryear’s stars (and franchises, natch) shine as bright as they did yesterday. Alas, moving on…

The two main platformers this weekend were writer/director Jessie Eisenberg’s A Real Pain and writer/director Steve McQueen’s Blitz.

The former, a Searchlight release, stars Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin as cousins traveling in Poland to honor their Holocaust survivor grandmother. The acclaimed and buzzy flick (with Culkin’s turn getting awards buzz) debuted in four theaters, earning $88,000 on Friday for a likely $240,000 weekend and a promising $60,000 per-theater average. It should expand into wide release on November 15.

The latter is an Apple TV+ flick getting a theatrical window for awards consideration prior to its November 22 streaming debut. It stars Saoirse Ronan (in her second “aiming for Oscar” performance of the year alongside The Outrun), Harris Dickinson and Elliot Heffernan and concerns folks caught amid the infamous Blitz bombing campaigns over London in World War II. It earned around $25,000 on Friday for a likely $72,000 weekend and $18k per-theater average.

In holdover news, Venom: The Last Dance earned $6.65 million (-70%) on Friday for a likely $24.5 million (-52%) weekend. That will give Sony’s threequel an $88.4 million domestic total over ten days. That compares to a 52% drop (from an $80 million debut) and a $142 million ten-day total for Venom and a 64% drop (from a $90 million opening weekend) and $141 million ten-day cume for Venom: Let There Be Carnage. So it’s a little leggier even with much smaller domestic grosses. Might it have accumulated more initial momentum opening this weekend as the official holiday season (November/December) kick-off flick? Perhaps, but Election Day jitters were a factor. Thanks, Obama Biden Harris…!

It’ll probably end its run with $132 million, ironically tying with another “nothing to offer but the star as the character” superhero sequel, The Wolverine (from a $53 million launch in 2013). It earned another $3 million on its second Friday and $7 million on its second Saturday in China, bringing its cume to $66 million in 11 days. That’s already past Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom ($65 million versus $298 million for Aquaman in 2018). Still, it won’t get anywhere near Venom’s $269 million Chinese total. Let There Be Carnage did not play in China amid a soft Marvel ban from 2021 to 2023.

The goal would be to catch up with Alien: Romulus, which earned $110 million in China this past summer. Offhand, the $120 million superhero sequel should be over/under $300 million worldwide by tomorrow, with a global gross that looks (spitball math alert) like around $435 million by the end. This again shows the value of not budgeting so high (even after a blow-out success or two) that best-case-scenario results are required for mere profitability. Once again, had Sony taken my advice and made (fellow Sony IP) Peter Rabbit the bad guy, they’d surely be pulling James Cameron-sized grosses.

Meanwhile, The Wild Robot continues to hold like a champ, setting itself up for a $6.7 million (-2%) sixth weekend and a $120.7 million 38-day total. Again, this is despite the DreamWorks Animation gem being on PVOD since day 19. Paramount’s Smile 2 will earn $6.4 million (-33%) in weekend three for a $52.3 million 17-day domestic and (guestimated until tomorrow) $110 million global total. Again, it’s not getting anywhere near Smile’s $107 million domestic/$217 million (on an $18 million budget) global cume. But since Parker Finn’s second go-around cost $28 million (and frankly looks more expensive), a likely over/under $140 million global finish is fine.

Focus Features’ Conclave (or, as it should have been called, Shenanagins in the Vatican) will earn $5 million (-24%) in weekend two. It is playing as a slow-roll AARP-friendly blend of prestige studio programming and juicy airport-read melodrama. I mean that as a compliment, as it’s among the more “fun” awards season flicks (PTSD flashbacks to the 2004 Democratic Iowa Caucasus notwithstanding), we’re probably going to get his season. Edward Berger’s $20 million film, starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow (among others), will have $15 million domestic in ten days, with plenty of godly grosses left whether it ends up at the Oscar table or not.

A24’s We Live in Time will earn $3.45 million (-27%) in weekend four, a notable hold since it’s the second weekend in unmitigated wide release. The Florence Pugh/Andrew Garfield romantic melodrama will have a $17.7 million 24-day domestic total. Regarding non-horror films from A24, we’ll see if it ends up closer to The Disaster Artist ($25 million in 2017) or The Iron Claw ($35 million in 2023). In other Oscar season news, Terrifier 3 will earn $3.05 million (-36%) in weekend four for a $50.3 million domestic cume. That’ll put it past the inflation-adjusted gross ($20 million in 1995) of Showgirls among unrated/X-rated/NC-17 releases.

Look, good faith campaigns for Best Makeup or even Best Visual Effects notwithstanding, if Cineverse wants to make an “Honor the Man, Honor the Movie” Oscar poster, I’ll run that f***er on my site for free. That offer also applies to MGM with The Beekeeper. Meanwhile, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will earn $2.1 million (-33%) to bring its domestic total to $292 million. The $100 million sequel might clear $450 million worldwide, a massive win whether that money came mainly from North America or mostly overseas. MUBI’s The Substance will earn $450,000 (-28%) on weekend seven for a $15.5 million domestic cume.

Neon’s Anora expanded into 253 theaters (including a theater near me!!) and should earn around $1.65 million (+82%) for the weekend for a $6,522 per theater average. That’s a solid expansion, with $3.7 million in 17 days, for a buzzy little awards season title. Now that I’ve seen the damn thing, A) it’s very good, and B) it’s not quite the “modern-day/skewed Pretty Woman/The Lady Eve” that it’s been sold as. That’s really only the first act before it becomes more of what you’d expect from a Sean Baker film. It’s relentlessly entertaining, and Mikey Madison is as fantastic as you’ve heard. Moreover, if The Substance can reach nearly $20 million, hope springs eternal.

Courtesy of The Numbers…