Venom: The Last Dance won the U.S. box office with $51 million but still came in below expectations with the worst opening weekend of the Spider-Man spin-off trilogy.
As reported by Variety, domestic ticket sales for the third Venom film were expected to reach $65 million after a production cost of $120 million, not including marketing costs. Worldwide sales reached $124 million for a total of $175 million.
Domestic results came in lower than both previous films too. The first Venom, starring Tom Hardy in the leading anti-hero role, drew in $80 million at the U.S. box office, and sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage actually gained some momentum with $90 million.
The third and possibly final film didn't perform well critically either, earning just a 4/10 in IGN's review. "Venom: The Last Dance trips over its own tendrils and lets a boring, generic plot, and bad action distract from the surprisingly resilient central relationship between Eddie Brock and his symbiote bestie," we said.
It's the second superhero sequel flop in the last few weeks, as Joker: Folie à Deux debuted earlier in October to similarly poor numbers and reviews. Experts deemed its $37.8 million domestic performance an "unmitigated disaster" and it earned just a slightly better than Venom 5/10 from IGN.
"Despite the best efforts of Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, and an opening hour set in Arkham Asylum, Joker: Folie à Deux wastes its potential as a movie musical, a courtroom drama, and a sequel that has anything meaningful to say about or add to the first Joker," we said.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
