‘Venom 3’ Leads Box Office Again, A24’s ‘Heretic’ Scares Up $11 Million Debut in Sleepy Weekend

“Venom: The Last Dance” is looming over the domestic box office in its third weekend of release. The third and final installment in Sony’s comic book trilogy has added $16.2 million from 3,905 North American theaters, down 40% from the prior frame and enough to lead over two newcomers, A24’s horror thriller “Heretic” and Lionsgate’s family friendly “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.”

Although those new releases weren’t able to topple “Venom 3” from No. 1, they opened on the higher end of expectations, thanks to word-of-mouth and the otherwise desolate movie theater landscape. Hollywood mostly avoided releasing a movie this weekend out of concern that people wouldn’t be paying attention to anything other than the election. As a result, overall domestic box office revenues remain down more than 11% from 2023 and nearly 27% from 2019, according to Comscore.

“Heretic,” featuring “Notting Hill” star Hugh Grant playing against type as a villain, notched third place with $11 million from 3,221 venues. The cat-and-mouse thriller follows two young Mormon missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who make the grave mistake of knocking on the door of a reclusive Englishman (Grant). Critics dug the film, which holds a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, and its “C+” grade on CinemaScore isn’t all that surprising for a horror story with a divisive ending.

“This is a very good opening for an original horror film,” says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “2024 isn’t the strongest year at the box office, but the horror genre is alive and fully engaging its young audience.”

A very different kind of religious parable, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” opened at No. 2 with $11.1 million from 3,020 locations. However, this number is skewed because it includes $2.2 million from last week’s one-night-only sneak preview screening. The faith-based film about six naughty siblings who take over the local church holiday pageant and learn the true meaning of Christmas has been roundly embraced by critics and audiences. The movie, directed by Dallas Jenkins (“The Chosen”) and starring Judy Greer, Pete Holmes and Lauren Graham, received an 89% average on Rotten Tomatoes and “A” grade on CinemaScore.

“Two and a half weeks before Thanksgiving, the film is getting a jump on the other broad-appeal holiday releases,” Gross says, referring to Amazon’s Christmas comedy “Red One,” with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson playing Santa’s head of security, on Nov. 15, followed by Paramount’s “Gladiator II” and Universal’s “Wicked” on Nov. 22, and Disney’s “Moana 2” on Nov. 27. “With support, [‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’] has a chance of holding its own heading into strong Thanksgiving competition.”

“Venom: The Last Dance” has generated $114 million in North America to date. Though it’s falling short of other entries in the Tom Hardy-led symbiote saga — 2018’s “Venom” powered to $213 million domestically and $856 million globally and 2021’s “Let There Be Carnage” ended with $213 million domestically and $506 million worldwide — this entry will be decently positioned in its theatrical run against its $120 million budget.

Elsewhere at the domestic box office, Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot” dropped to fourth place with $6.6 million from 3,051 theaters in its seventh weekend on the big screen. The well-reviewed family film has endured at the box office with minimal week to week drops (this weekend was down only 11%), earning $130.2 million domestically and $273 million worldwide so far.

Paramount’s pop star parable “Smile 2” rounded out the top five with $5 million from 2,822 locations, declining just 26% from the prior weekend. The R-rated sequel to 2022’s thriller “Smile” has generated $60.5 million in North America and $123.6 million worldwide to date. It cost $28 million and will become profitable, but the original was bigger with $105 million in North America and $217 million globally.

Also of note, “Here,” a fantasy drama that uses AI so Tom Hanks and Robin Wright can play younger (and older) versions of themselves, stumbled to the No. 8 spot with $2.4 million its second weekend of release. Ticket sales declined 52% from its soft $5 million debut, bringing the Robert Zemeckis-directed film to $9.3 million domestically.

Meanwhile, Ralph Fiennes-led thriller “Conclave” added $4.1 million from 2,283 theaters in its third weekend, enough for sixth place on domestic charts. The film, a Vatican-set drama from Focus Features, has grossed a solid $21.5 million after three weekends with New York and other East Coast markets bringing in the biggest audience.

More to come…