Venom 2 and Shang-Chi Share A New Pandemic Record

 After Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Ring’s remarkable climb from nothing to something, we’ve seen Venom: Let There Be Carnage tie it in a critical pandemic milestone. Brandon Blake, entertainment attorney Los Angeles and resident expert, lays out what you need to know.

Shang-Chi gave the exhibition industry a much-needed revival, springing to the $100M domestic marker in the shortest time of the pandemic so far. This was, of course, very against the predictions for its performance at the time. Venom 2 has now made that benchmark in 5 days, tying for the title. 

                                                            Brandon Blake

It’s worth noting, of course, that Shang-Chi had the power of the Labor Day weekend to boost it. Venom 2 has done so with no holiday in sight. It has also pulled that record off quicker than its 2018 predecessor, which took 6 days to get to that benchmark, the same as Black Widow did this year. F9, the first picture to see a Box Office that was worth much this year, took 8 days. To date, the total North American takings for Venom: Let There Be Carnage stand at $102M.

This is a notable contraction in that benchmark period from Jungle Cruise (31 days in theaters) and A Quiet Place Part II (20 days) earlier this year. And Venom 2 is continuing to look like a solid performer, making $6.275M last Tuesday, a robust enough pandemic figure. 

While it’s still a little early to declare the domestic Box Office back to normal, and the best performances are still only among tentpole features, it’s certainly a faster recovery than anyone could have predicted a few months ago and well worth celebrating. What’s even more promising is that figures have not dipped quickly, as we saw with Black Widow, but remain promisingly high even through the midweek. We will be keeping a close eye on this one.