The director of Venom reflects on the film’s success and why it resonated with viewers, while acknowledging the struggles of other Sony Spider-Man spin-offs like Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter. Released in 2018, Venom was the first movie in Sony’s attempt to create a shared universe centered around Spider-Man characters and villains, separate from Spider-Man himself. Despite initial skepticism, Venom launched the franchise with a strong global box office of $856 million.
In an interview with The Playlist, director Ruben Fleischer discussed the unique challenge of making a Venom movie without Spider-Man. He explained that Venom was the first film connected to the Spider-Man universe that couldn’t actually include Spider-Man, which created an interesting problem for the filmmakers. When asked about Venom‘s success compared to the failures of films like Morbius and Madame Web, Fleischer admitted he hadn’t seen everything, but believes Venom resonated with audiences because of its humor. He felt the movie didn’t take itself too seriously, which made it enjoyable.
The idea of an alien living inside someone is pretty strange, but I embraced it. I was inspired by the movie ‘All of Me’ with Steve Martin, and ‘An American Werewolf in London’ – both of which have a humorous tone. While ‘Venom’ is generally darker than other superhero movies in terms of its visuals and the character’s personality, it’s also very funny. Tom Hardy really brought that out, and I think his and Venom’s charisma are the main reasons the movie has been so popular with audiences.
‘Venom’s Impressive Box Office
Sony Pictures Releasing
It’s clear that the Venom movies, and their sequels, were the primary reason Sony continued pursuing a shared cinematic universe. While each Venom film earned less money globally than the one before, they were still big successes. Venom: Let There Be Carnage made almost as much domestically as the first film, but its worldwide earnings were lower due to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in China, which had been a major source of profit for the original Venom. Other Sony films attempting to build this universe – Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter – all failed to perform well, with none of them even matching Venom‘s opening weekend box office. Here’s a look at how all six films in Sony’s Spider-Man universe ranked, from highest to lowest worldwide earnings:
| Title | Release Date | Opening Weekend | Domestic Gross | Worldwide Gross |
| Venom | Oct. 5, 2018 | $80.2 million | $213.5 million | $856 million |
| Venom: Let There Be Carnage | Oct. 1, 2021 | $90 million | $213.5 million | $506.8 million |
| Venom: The Last Dance | Oct. 25, 2024 | $51 million | $139.7 million | $478.9 million |
| Morbius | Apr. 1, 2022 | $39 million | $73.8 million | $167.4 million |
| Madame Web | Feb. 14, 2024 | $15.3 million | $43 million | $100 million |
| Kraven the Hunter | Dec. 13, 2024 | $11 mllion | $25 million | $62 million |
Several things helped Venom succeed. Unlike characters like Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter, Venom is widely popular with Marvel fans. He’s been a major part of Marvel Comics since the 1990s, starring in his own comics and appearing in many video games and animated shows, including Spider-Man 3. Venom is also a popular character for merchandise, while Madame Web never even had her own comic book, and Morbius was a relatively obscure Spider-Man villain.
The film benefited from the surge in popularity of superhero movies in the late 2010s, a period that saw huge box office numbers for films like Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Deadpool 2, and Aquaman. Some viewers believe Venom’s success came from people mistakenly thinking it was part of the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe – specifically, the Infinity Saga – and wanting to catch up before a potential Spider-Man crossover. It’s difficult to say for sure if that was the reason, but Venom was a major financial success and left a lasting impact on the superhero genre, for good or bad.
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2025-11-10 14:52