Venom: The Last Dance, Sony’s third and supposedly final Venom film starring Tom Hardy, pulled off one of the most puzzling openings of the year. On one hand, its domestic debut was underwhelming, pulling in just $51 million compared to the $80-$90 million openings of its predecessors. Expectations had already been lowered, with projections around $65 million, but Venom tripped over even that, making Sony executives consider skipping popcorn.

Enter the international markets, particularly China, like a last-minute symbiotic savior. The film raked in $124 million globally, with a massive $46 million from China alone. This made The Last Dance the biggest Hollywood opening in China all year and the top superhero debut there since 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home. That overseas love pumped up the global total to $175 million, comfortably covering the film’s $100 million budget and proving that Venom’s bite isn’t as weak as his North American showing suggested.

While this was Hardy’s final Venom outing, Sony’s not done yet. The film teases Knull, a Symbiote god and future villain, along with hints at more Symbiote characters, suggesting Sony’s ready to dive deeper into a whole Symbiote Cinematic Universe. If domestic audiences weren’t sold, international viewers have shown Sony that there’s still life in the alien goo monster franchise.

In the end, Venom: The Last Dance may not have wowed at home, but it tore up the dance floor overseas, proving once again that for Hollywood blockbusters, sometimes the real MVPs are watching from halfway across the globe.

[Via CB]