Venom: Let There Be Carnage became the Hollywood film with the highest opening weekend box-office earnings in India amidst the pandemic, after it collected Rs 12 crores during the four-day Dussehra weekend, according to Box Office India.
“The four day collections are almost at the level of Bell Bottom,” the report added.
Akshay Kumar‘s Bell Bottom, which was the first major film to release in theatres after the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, collected Rs 12.75 crores in its opening weekend.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage released in India on Thursday, October 14. The film collected Rs 2.75 crores on its first day, Rs 3.25 crores on the second day, and Rs 3 crores each on days three and four.
The film stars Tom Hardy in the titular role, along with Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, Reid Scott, Stephen Graham, and Woody Harrelson. A sequel to the 2018 film Venom, it is directed by Andy Serkis and is based on a story by Hardy and Kelly Marcel.
The film revolves around Eddie Brock (Hardy), who “attempts to reignite his career by interviewing serial killer Cletus Kasady, who becomes the host of the symbiote Carnage and escapes prison after a failed execution,” according to IMDb‘s synopsis.
The Venom sequel surpassed the opening collections of both the 25th James Bond film No Time to Die and Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. While the former film, starring outgoing Bond actor Daniel Craig, collected around Rs 8.5 crores over its first weekend, Shang-Chi, featuring Simu Liu as Marvel’s first-ever Asian superhero, opened to weekend earnings of a little over Rs 10 crores.
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However, it is to be noted that all these films released in India at a time when cinemas in the state of Maharashtra, which contributes 30-35% to the box office revenue of the country, were shut.
The Venom sequel is expected to perform even better in the coming weekend with theatres in Maharashtra reopening on Friday (October 22).
In addition to this, the Kerala state government has also announced the reopening of cinemas there on October 25.
Both states will have cinema halls functioning with 50% occupancy.
Meanwhile, despite mixed reviews and an IMDb rating of 6.4, Venom: Let There Be Carnage has seen a global box-office collection of over $283 million so far.