‘Venom’ Stomps Past $500 Million at Worldwide Box Office

A white-hot October at the box office is about to end, and the film that started that success, Sony’s “Venom,” just passed a major milestone with over $508 million grossed worldwide after four weekends in theaters.

If compared to other superhero films, this doesn’t seem like an impressive milestone, as every Marvel Cinematic Universe film since 2012 has crossed that mark, with 10 of them crossing $750 million globally. But “Venom” has a much smaller budget than those films with just $100 million, while Marvel Studios has production budgets well north of $175 million.

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That smart budgeting decision by Sony has paid off immensely, as the studio hopes that this spinoff based on Spider-Man’s nemesis/occasional ally can trigger interest in even more films about other characters from Spidey’s universe. The studio will release the animated film “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” this December, putting the spotlight on two more recent characters to take on the Spider-Man mantle: Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy. The studio is also set to start production on a film about Morbius the Living Vampire starring Jared Leto.

But in the meantime, “Venom” still has a chance to push for even higher box office heights. Earlier this month, it was approved for release in China on Nov. 9 and also has a release still to come in Japan. Asia, and particularly China, have grown a huge fanbase for Marvel movies, with “Spider-Man: Homecoming” grossing $116 million in China and “Avengers: Infinity War” grossing $359.5 million.

While the November release slate in China will be crowded with Hollywood imports, “Venom” has the opportunity to stand out and possibly push its global total to that $700-$750 million range that would put it past “Justice League” and place it alongside superhero movies like “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” ($714 million) and “Guardians of the Galaxy” ($773 million) on the genre’s all-time charts.

Read original story ‘Venom’ Stomps Past $500 Million at Worldwide Box Office At TheWrap