Comics
‘Venom’ Invades the Box Office With $200M Worldwide Opening!
Holy. Shit.
Even with all of the negative press leading into its release, Columbia Pictures’ Venom bonded with audiences to receive a B+ CinemaScore. Whether critics liked it or not, the Ruben Fleischer-directed Spider-Man spinoff was a monstrous hit, pulling in not only $80M here in the States, but another $125M internationally for an estimated $205M global opening. Get this, it hasn’t even opened in China yet!
For perspective, this opening will be an October record previously held by Gravity, which celebrated $55.7M. Also, even more shocking, Venom‘s opening is bigger than any of the Spider-Man movies. Ever. For even more perspective, if this had actually been a horror movie (as originally promised), it would have been the largest horror opening ever. As you may recall, New Line Cinema’s IT opened to $158M worldwide. Venom should top $700M through its theatrical life.
Tom Hardy puts on a performance for the ages as the title character and Eddie Brock, Riz Ahmed’s Carlton Drake becomes one with Riot, and Michelle Williams appears as Eddie’s love interest, Anne Weying. In the film, Drake retrieves alien symbiote that in turn are intent on devouring Earth. Hardy’s Eddie Brock/Venom must stop him.
The film’s budget is being reported in the $100M range, which means about a $200M total spend on the film. A safe breakeven point would be estimated somewhere between $300M-$400M worldwide. Domestic should top $200M alone, which means a sequel is probably already in the works. Hardcore comic fans will finally get to see Cletus Kasady’s Carnage on the big screen, which will be played by Woody Harrelson.
The Eli Roth-directed The House With a Clock In Its Walls added $7.2M for a $55 domestic total and only $79 worldwide. On a $42 reported budget, things aren’t looking so hot for this Jack Black-starrer children’s comedy. Elsewhere, CBS Films’ Hell Fest added $2M domestic for a global total of $9.5M, New Line Cinema’s Conjuring spinoff The Nun is sitting at $346M worldwide, and Fox’s Shane Black-directed The Predator continues to die a quick death, dropping another 76% to a $900,000 weekend and $123M worldwide total. The budget is a reported massive $88M and looking at major losses.
The supernatural world of Korean folk horror movie Exhuma grows larger with the arrival of prequel spinoff webtoon Maengjong this weekend, Variety reports today.
Naver Webtoon debuts Maengjong on May 30.
The series hails from Haemuri (Olgami) and will trace the high school origins of how shaman duo Hwarim and Bonggil, played by Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun in the 2024 film, came together to face occultish threats.
The story is set to begin when “Hwarim, who has been concealing her identity following a childhood encounter with a snake spirit called Jin, crosses paths with Bonggil at their school.”
Variety notes that Exhuma director Jang Jae-hyun participated in the project’s early concept stage.
“We are presenting ‘Maengjong,’ a new series capturing the appeal of the horror-occult genre, ahead of the full summer season,” said Lee Jeong-geun, Naver Webtoon’s Korea webtoon content leader. “With the high school story of Hwarim and Bonggil, who left a strong impression in the film ‘Exhuma,’ enhanced by Haemuri’s characteristic tense direction, we expect it will be a welcome work for genre fans.”
“It is meaningful that the spin-off story of ‘Exhuma,’ loved by many audiences, expands by meeting the new grammar of webtoon,” said Lee Hyeon-jeong, managing director of the film business division at Showbox, which distributed the film. “We hope it will be a fresh experience for both film fans and webtoon readers.”
Exhuma was a breakout hit in 2024, becoming the first Korean occult film to surpass 10 million ticket buyers and the country’s highest-grossing film of the year. I wrote in my review that “the intricately woven Exhuma delivers one of the year’s biggest surprises in horror so far.”
The bond between Hwarim and Bonggil was one of the film’s highlights, making this prequel webtoon a must for fans.
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