Almost exactly one year after it was originally supposed to be unleashed in theaters, Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage finally came to the big screen over the weekend, and it looks like Venom is pandemic proof because the Andy Serkis-directed sequel managed to scare up even more money in its domestic opening weekend than the first movie did back in 2018.
A new pandemic era box office record, Let There Be Carnage pulled in $90.1 million in its domestic opening weekend, compared to the $80 million opening of 2018’s Venom!
Worldwide, the sequel has already passed the $100 million mark.
There’s been a lot of talk in the past year about whether or not audiences are comfortable returning to theaters, and whether or not it’s a good idea to release movies exclusively into theaters at the moment, but Let There Be Carnage looks to be further proof that audiences absolutely will show up for a movie they really, really want to see on the big screen. Coming off the smash hit success of Venom, which damn near made $1 billion worldwide, audiences were hungry for the sequel, and it seems the extra wait time only furthered that hunger.
It’s the smaller movies that are fighting the uphill battles at the moment.
Meagan Navarro writes in her review for Bloody Disgusting that Venom: Let There Be Carnage “hits the ground running and doesn’t stop for the brisk 90-minute runtime. It’s the perfect runtime for a rom-com, but as a superhero movie, it gets sloppy.”
She continues, “But it’s hard not to be charmed by Venom attempting to cheer up his host with a lavish breakfast and pep talks. Or a dose of self-love and acceptance in the form of a confessional mic drop at a costume party. If you’re in the mood for silly, this sequel nails it. But for an epic showdown among monsters, it lacks bite.”
Tom Hardy is back as Eddie Brock, who is of course also the alien symbiote known as Venom. Woody Harrelson, who popped up as Cletus Kasady in the first film’s post-credits scene, ultimately becomes Carnage in the film. Michelle Williams is also back in the upcoming sequel to the smash hit movie from 2018, with Naomie Harris co-starring as Shriek.
