According to Sony studio bosses, the theatrical release of the feature film “Venom 2” during the pandemic would be at the origin of the enormous success encountered today by “Top Gun: Maverick”.
And if Venom 2 was at the origin of the monster success met by Top Gun: Maverick, which is today more than 1.2 billion dollars in revenue worldwide? This is the astonishing analysis formulated by the big bosses of Sony Pictures studios and relayed by Variety website.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage is one of the few blockbusters released in theaters during a pandemic, say Sanford Panitch and Josh Greenstein, who see it as a winning bet. The feature film, with 90 million dollars in receipts for its first weekend of exploitation in the United States (i.e. 10 more than the first film, unveiled in “normal” times), had completed its career beyond the bar of 500 million greenbacks.
After Venom 2, Sony continued with great theatrical successes: Ghostbusters: The Legacy and its 200 million dollars worldwide, Uncharted (400 million) and especially Spider-Man: No Way Home, which totaled 1, 9 billion greenbacks.
“When we started releasing films in theaters last October, there weren’t really any other big films”says Greenstein. “Everyone had postponed them for the summer of 2022. We took a big risk by releasing Venom 2. Then we doubled the bet with Ghostbusters: Legacy. Finally, our biggest bet, when the release big movies was on hold, was tripling the ante with Spider-Man: No Way Home, our biggest production ever.”
“We talk so much about Top Gun at the moment. With this film, it’s as if the business was back”continues Panitch. “Strangely, I would say that Maverick is profiting from what we did. Venom 2 is the beginning of what allows the film to have the success that it has today. These things do not happen overnight . It started from a seed that we sowed.”
The trailer for “Top Gun Maverick”: