Venom Just Cant Be Stopped at the Box Office

Excellent news for Michelle Williams: Venom, the dark superhero blockbuster starring her and Tom Hardy, is still unstoppable at the box office. The film, which opened stateside in October, has just opened in China, where it picked up a staggering $102 million in its opening weekend. That figure not only amped Venoms continued global dominance, but also boosted the entire countrys lagging 2018 box office. Yes, once again, it seems that people really, really like this movie—even though it mostly got dragged by critics. (To be fair: in his own review, Vanity Fairs Richard Lawson called the movie a fun watch despite the nonsensical plot, due in large part to Hardys wild performance.)

Thanks to this latest figure, Venom now boasts the second-biggest opening for a superhero movie in China, and the countrys fifth-biggest opening in general, according to Variety, putting the movie just behind more predictable juggernauts like Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. In its first weekend in the U.S., Venom made $80 million, and collected $206 million domestically in total. Now that the initial numbers from China have been accounted for, the film has grossed $673 million worldwide.

Which brings us to a vital question: is Venom this years Greatest Showman? Which is to say, could it be 2018s critically drubbed, big-budget studio release that does insane numbers at the box office despite all reason? Perhaps that crown actually belongs to Bohemian Rhapsody, the similarly dismissed Queen biopic thats far surpassed its original tracking—though its worldwide box office is only around $285 million right now. Showman, the circus musical starring Hugh Jackman as a cleaned-up version of P. T. Barnum, made $435 million worldwide, a figure no one really saw coming. Its soundtrack has also broken music-sales records in the U.K., closing in on numbers previously set by the likes of Adele.

Venom is, likewise, on track to just keep scooping up barrels of cash. Which brings us back to the hero of our lede: Michelle Williams, who usually opts for smart indies and tense dramas, then surprised everyone by taking a lead role in Venom. In a September V.F. cover story, Williams refreshingly admitted that she wanted to do Venom because of the financial freedom a big superhero movie can offer an actor, so long as its successful. Turns out she picked well.

Léon: The Professional

The 1994 hit-man drama catapulted 13-year-old Portman to stardom after she played Mathilda, a world-weary pre-teen with an indelible bob cut and ever-present choker.From ©Columbia Pictures/Photofest.