‘Venom’s’ Farewell Holds Strong at Box Office, ‘Smile 2′ Drops, Zemeckis’ ‘Here’ Sputters

The question about whether a Spider-Man-less Sony movie containing characters from that universe would ever be a success has been answered. Yes, Venom: The Last Dance is actually a bigger hit than anyone expected considering the one that came before it. Tom Hardy has said he won’t return to the role of Eddie Brock after Venom 3, but maybe he will eat his words once the final numbers come in. It’s well on its way to the century mark in the U.S. with $90 million this weekend and $227 million in overall international sales.

Venom: The Last Dance

There was nothing new opening last week to compete with Venom 3 and that may have made The Last Dance a lone wolf for two weeks. We will see how it does against Hugh Grant’s religious horror move Heretic opening this week.

Unfortunately, people weren’t in the mood for a demon who feeds off trauma as Smile 2 drops to the number three spot, coming in under $1 million less than the animated chart mainstay Wild Robot at number two.

At number five, we have the once-prolific director Robert Zemeckis film, Here. Zemeckis movies were once cinematic events. Back to the Future is considered a timeless classic, as is Forrest Gump, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Death Becomes Her and What Lies Beneath.

The choice to do a one-location chamber piece like Here may not have been his best decision. Not even reuniting with leading man Tom Hanks could help him score as the movie takes the number five spot, opening at just $3 million.

As stated before, this week we get the highly-rated horror movie Heretic and next week it’s the holiday fantasy action film Red One, starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans. Then, get ready; Wicked and Gladiator II battle it out for IMAX screens on Nov. 22, before Disney’s Moana 2 dethrones them all.

Here is this weekend’s box office receipts in order of highest to lowest in ticket sales:

Venom: The Last Dance: $90 million

Wild Robot: $7 million

Smile 2: $ $6 million

Conclave: $5 million

Here: $5 million

We live in Time: $3 million

Terrifier 3: $3.2 million

Bhool Bhulaiyaa: $2.2 million

Simgham Again: $2.1 million

Beetlejuice 2: $2 million