Venom: Let There Be Carnage Just Had The Second-Best Preview Night Of The Pandemic

"Venom: Let There Be Carnage" is off to one heck of a great start at the box office. The sequel, which sees Tom Hardy return as Eddie Brock/Venom, hit theaters for preview showings on Thursday night, ahead of its full rollout this weekend. 

Things are, to say the very least of it, looking good. "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" had the second-best preview night of the pandemic, taking in $11.6 million. The movie is now poised to have a bigger opening weekend than expected, which could mean good things ahead for the fall season. Let's have a closer look at the numbers, shall we?

The early numbers for "Venom: Let There Be Carnage," per The Hollywood Reporter, bode well. 2018's "Venom" opened with around $10 million in Thursday night previews on its way to an $80 million opening weekend. While the sequel is not expected to soar quite that high, it is now eyeing an opening above $60 million, with the possibility of $70 million well in reach. That is great news for Sony, who delayed the movie (directed by Andy Serkis) for nearly a year. The release date has shifted around quite a bit over the last few months, before October 1 was finally settled on.

The only movie to have a bigger Thursday night showing during the pandemic was Marvel's "Black Widow," which took in $13.2 million on its way to an $80 million opening weekend. Though it is well worth noting that "Black Widow" was also available on Disney+ Premier Access, whereas "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" is playing exclusively in theaters. Also on the Marvel front, "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" opened to $8.8 million on its preview night, en route to a $75 million opening weekend. It currently stands as the domestic box office champion for 2021, with $199 million to its name. It will cross $200 million by day's end.

This is an excellent sign for the movie business, as box office recovery has been slow and uneven since the disaster that was 2020. "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" is opening the floodgates of a possibly great fall season for Hollywood. Other big movies just around the corner include "No Time to Die," "Halloween Kills," "Dune," "Eternals," and "Ghostbusters: Afterlife," among many others. 

If things continue to go well as these other much-anticipated releases make their way into the world, things could truly be looking up for an industry that has suffered a great deal. But we still have a long way to go before things are back to normal – or something that resembles normalcy at least.

The Marvel Comics adaptation also stars Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, Reid Scott, Stephen Graham, and Woody Harrelson

"Venom: Let There Be Carnage" is in theaters now.