'Venom' Helps Push Sony Over $1 Billion at Box Office in 2018

The symbiote strength of Venom has pushed Sony Pictures’ overall 2018 box office gross total to [...]

The symbiote strength of Venom has pushed Sony Pictures' overall 2018 box office gross total to over $1 billion.

In addition to Venom, Sony's box office success has been built on films like Slenderman, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, The Equalizer 2, Alpha, and Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, which is also currently playing theaters.

And Sony is doesn't yet, with the releases of The Girl in the Spider's Web, Holmes & Watson, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse still upcoming.

Sony is the fourth studio to reach the $1 billion mark this year, following Disney, Warner Bros., and Universal.

Venom will is set to win its second weekend in a row with $35.7 million. Added to last weekend's $80 million record-breaking opening weekend and its weekday earnings, Venom's box office total will climb to $142 million domestic, making it the 12th-biggest movie of the year.

Venom is expected to remain the number one film worldwide as well. Globally, Venom has earned $378.1 million, making it the 16th-biggest film of the year.

Venom's success could be just the start to of big things for Sony. The film is meant to be a launchpad for Sony's universe of films focused on Spider-Man supporting characters and villains such as Morbius, Black Cat, Silver Sable, and Nightwatch. The Morbius movie stars Jared Leto and is expected to begin filming in early 2019.

Venom is directed by Ruben Fleischer and was made with a $100 million budget. The film has received mostly negative reviews from critics, managing only a 30 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, but fans have been much more positive on the film, awarding it an 88 percent audience score.

Venom also set up a sequel with Venom's nemesis Carnage. While the studio is looking ahead, producer Avi Arad has said that the film might not be the R-rated take that fans expected.

"You know what? When you hear Venom…forget Venom. When you hear, Carnage, the only thing you can think of is R. But, if you know his story, if you really know the comic, there's no R here." Avi Arad said in an interview. "He's a tortured soul. It's not about what he does, because we never have to show the knife going from here to there, and the blood is pouring. What you have to show is, what is the motivation? Was he born like that, or it's someone we should feel for, because if you are succeeding to make a villain someone you can feel for, jackpot."

What did you think of Venom? Let us know in the comments!

Venom is now playing in theaters.

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