Sony‘s Venom: Let There Be Carnage, starring Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams, scored the best opening at the domestic B.O. during the pandemic, with $90.1M. Black Widow previously held that record with $80.8M. Venom, unlike Black Widow, holds an exclusive theatrical window, which many are saying is a winning strategy.
“For us, Venom: Let There Be Carnage absolutely validates our exclusive theatrical window strategy,” exclaimed Sony President, Motion Pictures Group Josh Greenstein, “If you look at the history of theatrical, the obituaries have been written many times and they’ve always been wrong. We had confidence in the theatrical experience, confidence in our big valuable IP and took full advantage and had the patience to weather all of this. That strategy is paying off which we’re happy about. It’s a nice validation of the theatrical strategy.”
The Addams Family 2 also opened, with $18 million.