Venom: Let There Be Carnage Topples Original Film's Box Office Record

By Aaron Perine

Venom: Let There Be Carnage is off to a roaring start at the box office. The Sony sequel managed to snare $11.6 million on opening night as people just can't get enough of Tom Hardy and his symbiote friend. Sony is actually predicting a weekend of $50 million, according to Exhibitor Relations, which would be great for the film. However, with opening night bringing in this kind of return it would be easy to see a number even more massive at the end of the weekend. In some ways, this could be conceived as a rubber stamp on what people thought about the first film. Critical response wasn't great but the fans showed up in droves to see what Sony had cooking with the new property. It didn't hurt that Venom hadn't appeared on the big screen since 2008's Spider-Man 3. But, in all reality, this really comes down to Hardy who is a legit draw and completely owns this character. Analysis of this weekend's take, along with the continued performance of Shang-Chi and The Legend Of The Ten Rings, paints an interesting picture heading into the final months of 2021.

For his part, the series star is absolutely locked in for wherever this Marvel franchise takes him. This week, he spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about what lies ahead for Eddie Brock and the symbiote. Hardy elaborated, "I'm deeply invested in this particular franchise. If it's successful, there is another one to do."

The entire forecast is rosy for Venom as the Rotten Tomatoes scores for the film fall in line with the first effort. A lot of fans couldn't wait for the film to turn up and continue the adventures of this reporter and alien goo monster tandem. Funny enough, the creative team debated going to an R-rating. Hardy actually said that to Comicbook.com during a recent interview.

"100% we considered it," the actor said. "With all of these symbiotes, you know, you consider it. You read the comic books and it is extreme, but that's not what we're here to do. We came here to make a movie which, and correct me if I'm wrong, I mean, there's a law and a rule into creating a movie that's accessible to a lot of people, as well as that caters for everybody, including the hardcore fans. So I hope the hardcore fans at least take home that they look at Carnage and go, 'Yeah, I recognize Carnage from the comic books. I'm happy with that.' And yeah, no, we didn't bite everybody's head off, but we did stick a tongue down someone's throat pretty... and managed to come in at a level of rating which is reputable so that grandma can come but also I'll come watch it too." 

Are you surprised by these opening day numbers? Let us know down in the comments!

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