The critical reaction towards Venom may not be great overall so far, but on the commercial side of things, the movie looks like it's going to be a powerhouse performer. Last month, it was estimated that Venom could kick off domestically in the $55-$85 million range, and as of yesterday, Eddie Brock's standalone adventure is predicted to have a global opening weekend haul of between $160-$175 million. Now word's come in that Venom is also doing quite well with regards to advance ticket sales, so much so that it's outselling recent Marvel Cinematic Universe movies Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Ant-Man and the Wasp.
While the above three movies weren't the heaviest of hitters in the MCU lineup, like most of their ilk, they nonetheless commercially successful, so Venom is outpacing them in pre-sales is quite the accomplishment. As if that weren't impressive enough, Atom Tickets also noted in its report that among all Marvel movies, i.e. both the Marvel Studios entries and stories made by other studios that carry the Marvel banner, Venom ranks in third place, with Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther making up the top 2. Looking outside of the comic book realm, the majority of people buying Venom tickets ahead of time on Atom Tickets fall into the 18-29 age range, so clearly a lot of young'uns are itching for some big screen, symbiote-enhanced action. As for why Venom is killing it with pre-sales, Atom Tickets editorial lead Alisha Grauso noted that even though the movie has been getting mixed reviews, there's still a lot of excitement to see this newest live action take on the character and how Tom Hardy handles the role.
Although every movie aims to be both critically and commercially successful, sometimes one doesn't always lead to the other. In Venom's case, if the early reviews are any indication, it's won't go down in history as one of the best comic book movies, but on the money front, there won't be any issues. I imagine another reason a lot of folks are eager to watch Venom is to see how Eddie Brock's origin story is handled without Spider-Man being around. That, along with the other characters and plenty of action, provides numerous reasons for people to check out Venom this weekend, though it should also be noted that Venom's opening weekend competition, A Star is Born, is also doing well in pre-sales, outperforming Oscar contenders like The Big Sick, The Shape of Water, and Call Me By Your Name.
You can judge Venom for yourself starting on Friday (or even tomorrow evening, depending on where you live), but be sure to read CinemaBlend's review of the movie now. As for what else 2018 has in store, look through our release schedule to learn what else is hitting theaters before the year is over.
