Despite its negative critical reviews, Sony's Venom has been a huge success with audiences and at the box office. The antihero film broke the October opening weekend record and has racked up over $463 million worldwide to date. Now, riding high off of that success, Sony has inked a massive deal with IMAX.
Sony Pictures Entertainment and IMAX have signed a long-term, multi-picture deal in the wake of Venom's prosperous box office, which was elevated by its performance on IMAX screens. According to The Hollywood Reporter, as part of the new deal, IMAX screens will be a component of Sony's release strategy for its major 2019 tentpoles Spider-Man: Far From Home, the upcoming Men in Black spinoff and the sequel to Sony's massive hit Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
This is the first such deal between Sony and IMAX. Previously the two companies had one-off deals, as it was with Venom, where Sony films would be released in the giant screen format on a case-by-case basis. The $15.4 million Venom brought in on IMAX screens opening weekend compelled the exhibitor to make this relationship more permanent with a global slate deal that will bring more of Sony's titles to the IMAX format. This puts Sony in the company of Warner Bros., Disney, Fox and Paramount, which all have such deals with IMAX.
The Sony titles, especially Spider-Man: Far From Home, help fill out IMAX's 2019 tentpole release slate as it and the other aforementioned films will be remastered for and released in the IMAX format all over the globe. The global slate deal is also a win for Sony, as it can take advantage of IMAX cameras and the IMAX aspect ratio in the way Marvel Studios' films have done before it.
Sony will also benefit from the higher ticket prices IMAX films command as audiences pay a little extra to see its tentpoles on the biggest screen possible. That should help drive the opening weekend and overall box office's of Sony's big 2019 movies.
This is proof positive that whether you liked it or not, Venom was a gamble that paid off for Sony. The Tom Hardy pic helped push Sony over $1 billion at the domestic box office and it was a hit with general audiences. Venom also got Sony's seemingly risky, Spider-Man-less Spider-Verse off to a great start with a financial win.
Probably the biggest 2019 film releasing under this new Sony-IMAX deal and one that should look awesome on IMAX screens is Spider-Man: Far From Home, which kicks off the MCU's Phase 4 on July 5, 2019. That's just one of many giant blockbusters hitting theaters next year, so check out the rest in our 2019 release schedule.
