Top Gun: Maverick was one of the undisputed kings of the box office this year (Spider-Man: No Way Home might have something to say), earning $1.2 billion worldwide and counting. A number of factors contributed to the action sequel's success, but credit where it's due, Venom: Let There Be Carnage deserves recognition for paving the way for Maverick's box office dominance... apparently.
During an interview with Vulture, Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group co-presidents Sanford Panitch and Josh Greenstein suggested that their studio deserves at least some credit for getting audiences back into theaters in bulk during the pandemic, thus setting the stage for Maverick to swoop in and clean up.
Greenstein cites the Venom sequel, which released in theaters last October to a $90 million debut, as a "gamble" which paid off and encouraged other studios to follow suit.
“When we first started releasing movies last October, there were really no other big movies,” he said. “Everyone had pushed their big movies to this year, to this summer. We took a big gamble putting ‘Venom’ in theaters. Then we doubled down with ‘Ghostbusters.’ Then our biggest bet was when every other tentpole had fled, we tripled down with ‘Spider-Man’ — our biggest, most important piece of IP.”
“There’s so much press about Top Gun right now. It’s like, ‘The movie business is back!'” Panitch added. “In a weird way, I would say ‘Top Gun’ is benefitting from us taking our shot. Venom is the start of that story that allows Top Gun to do the kind of business it did. These things don’t happen overnight. It’s a seeding.”
While there is some truth to this, the Sony bosses seem to be forgetting that other major studios beat them to the punch. Warner Bros.' Godzilla Vs. Kong made a big impact at the box office despite a simultaneous streaming debut, and Marvel Studios' Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was released a month before Let There Be Carnage.
So, we guess they deserve a bit of credit for Venom's success!
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