Venom: Let There Be Carnage is projected to have a $60 million opening weekend. The highly anticipated sequel to 2018's Venom brings Tom Hardy back to star as Eddie Brock, but this time he will face one of Marvel's biggest villains, Carnage (Woody Harrelson). Sony has hopes that Venom 2 will be another big hit and continue the Marvel success it has had ever since they rebooted Spider-Man as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Tom Holland.

Expectations for the movie are high, especially after early reactions for Venom 2 were mostly positive. As viewers gear up to see the continuation of Venom's story, the sequel will attempt to replicate the original film's success at the box office. Venom was a surprise financial hit for Sony as it made over $850 million worldwide, and it made the sequel seem like a strong contender to earn $1 billion when it came out. Due to COVID-19 though, expectations for Venom 2's box office potential are understandably muted, but it is still projected to perform well.

Related: How No Spider-Man Changed Venom's Movie Origin

According to tracking shared by Deadline, projections for Venom: Let There Be Carnage have it opening to $60M domestically. The report notes that Sony's estimations are more conservative and have the sequel earning $40M in its opening weekend. However, others around Hollywood are predicting Venom 2 could open to more than $60M during its first three days of release, including opening night previews. The original Venom opened to $80M and set what was then a record opening weekend for October.

Carnage from Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage

Depending on where Venom: Let There Be Carnage's opening weekend officially falls, it will post one of the best openings for a movie in a post-COVID-19 landscape. Black Widow set the record with $80M in May, and both Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and F9 opened above these current projections for Venom 2. This should mean that the movie claims the fourth-highest opening weekend post-pandemic. If it over-performs, Tom Hardy's sequel could surpass F9 or Shang-Chi. Meanwhile, an opening closer to Sony's estimates might put it behind A Quiet Place Part II.

There is plenty of hope within the movie industry that Venom 2 will be the latest superhero movie to pop at the box office, and this tracking backs it up. It was Shang-Chi's box office performance that raised Sony's confidence that their Marvel movie will perform well and brought them to move up the film's release date by a few weeks. As long as the interest from audiences to see more big-budget comic book movies continues, Venom: Let There Be Carnage should be another win for Sony. How big of a hit it becomes will be fascinating to follow now.

More: How Much Venom 2 Cost To Make (& How Much To Be A Box Office Success)

Source: Deadline

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