‘Venom’ Is Sony’s Highest Grossing Movie of All Time in Russia

Venom has emerged as Sony’s highest-grossing film in Russia and has a shot at reaching the top ten all-time list in the country, THR reports.

The Tom Hardy-led superhero blockbuster grossed 1.59 billion rubles ($24 million), giving it the second-highest haul for 2018 behind only Disney’s Avengers: Infinity War. That film, released in Russia May 3, earned 2.16 billion rubles ($32.7 million).

Venom earned 953 billion rubles ($14.4 million) in its opening weekend debut, making it the fourth-best opening weekend performer in the country across 1,378 screens. It fell short of Infinity War‘s opening (1.03 billion rubles, or $15.6m) and Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (968 billion rubles or $14.7m).

The Spider-Man-less Venom has already outperformed his archfoe in Russia: The Amazing Spider-Man was the former biggest earner at $21.9m, followed by Spider-Man: Homecoming ($16.3m), Spider-Man 3 ($13.8m), Spider-Man 2 ($8.9m) and Spider-Man ($3.5m).

Sony Pictures Russia’s marketing director Leonid Karnozov said the studio will bolster support for the release following Venom‘s success in Russia, where it will soon enter the top ten Hollywood releases of all time. Venom now ranks at number 18 but is only 180 billion rubles ($2.7m) behind Deadpool, which is ranked in tenth place.

Venom pushed Sony’s 2018 box office totals past $1 billion over the weekend, calculating the performances of Slenderman, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, The Equalizer 2, Alpha, and the just-released Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween.

So far, Venom has earned $378 million worldwide after opening to $80 million domestically in its debut weekend, making it the 16th highest-grossing movie of 2018 worldwide, just behind Universal’s Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again ($392m) and Disney’s Solo: A Star Wars Story ($392.9m). To enter the top ten worldwide, Venom would have to beat the $544m earned by China’s Detective Chinatown 2.

The Ruben Fleischer-directed Venom, budgeted at a relatively low $100 million, launches “Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters,” a planned cinematic universe to be populated by some of the more than 900 Marvel Comics characters whose rights are held by Sony.

Sequels are expected and will again see Hardy, who is signed to a three-movie deal, reprise his role as investigative reporter Eddie Brock and Venom, the symbiotic alien hybrid anti-hero protector of San Francisco.

The continuity will soon introduce another longtime Spider-Man supporting character, Morbius the Living Vampire, in his own film that is now being readied by Sony. That film will star Suicide Squad‘s Jared Leto in its titular role.

Other projects being eyed by the studio include solo films for Black Cat, Silver Sable, and Kraven the Hunter. Venom 2 is expected to become a high priority for Sony following its successful franchise launcher.