After handing off Spider-Man creatively to the MCU, Sony took a huge gamble when it decided it was going to forge ahead and build-out a cinematic universe of Spider-Man characters without the web-slinger himself. That gamble has not only paid off, but is looking smarter and smarter by the day. Sony is the symbiote's host and Venom's continued success has just launched the studio to a box office milestone of $2+ billion internationally on the year.
Thanks in large part to a massive $111 million opening weekend in China, Venom will cross $500 million at the international box office this week. That overseas success has pushed Sony's foreign box office total for 2018 through Monday to $2.001 billion according to Deadline. That is the first time Sony has crossed that threshold this early in the year since 2012, when it released a whole host of foreign successes including The Amazing Spider-Man, MIB 3 and Hotel Transylvania.
Venom already pushed Sony's domestic box office past $1 billion on the year but the overseas markets are where the symbiote is really shining. In addition to the Chinese box office, which was $134.8 million through Tuesday, Venom has also performed well in Russia, Korea, the United Kingdom, Mexico and France.
Thanks to that stellar foreign performance, Venom's worldwide total now sits at over $700.1 million. That puts Venom on track to likely hit $800 million worldwide. In so doing it would vault over Fox's Deadpool 2 and Paramount's Mission: Impossible Fallout to snag the fifth highest worldwide gross on the year.
This would be pretty impressive, considering those two films are in established and popular franchises with name recognition and where audiences knew what to expect. Venom is an established character, but Tom Hardy in the role and Sony's universe are new. Clearly that didn't stop the parasite from leeching every dollar it could out of a willing global audience.
Venom is a hit but it wasn't the only film that helped Sony's overseas box office hit the $2 billion mark so quickly this year. The team effort included stellar overseas performances from kids titles Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, which earned $358.4 million and Peter Rabbit, which took in $263 million. But pulling the largest portion of Sony's weight besides Venom was Sony's 2017 holdover, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which earned $398.6 million in 2018.
Sony isn't looking to take the holidays off to enjoy its billions either as the studio has two major titles left this year. First, Sony is hoping the Spider love extends to the animated realm with the marvelous looking Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and then Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly reunite for Holmes & Watson.
Check out those titles and the other big blockbusters and awards contenders hitting theaters this holiday season in our Holiday Movie Guide.
