'Venom: Let There Be Carnage' enjoys record preview box-office haul

Venom scored big from October 2018 to January 2019, grossing just over $856 million at the global box office.

History could very well repeat itself with Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which arrived to theaters Friday after several COVID-related delays.

"Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage rang up a great $11.6M Thursday night from showtimes that began at 4 p.m. yesterday at 3,500 theaters," Deadline's Anthony D'Alessandro relayed. "That's the second best we've seen during the pandemic after Disney/Marvel’s Black Widow, which grossed $13.2M on Thursday night from shows that began at 5 p.m. (sans Disney+ Premier for the night)."

"Even better news: That preview haul is higher than that of the 2018 movie, which did $10 million off showtimes that began at 5 p.m.," D'Alessandro continued. "Venom went on to do a $32.5M first day and $80.2M opening weekend, which is the second best ever for the month of October."

Let There Be Carnage stars Tom Hardy reprising his role of journalist Eddie Brock, whose body had been taken over by an alien symbiote named Venom in the 2018 sci-fi blockbuster. Woody Harrelson and Michelle Williams also reprised their supporting roles, while original director Ruben Fleischer was replaced by Andy Serkis.

The sequel additionally landed Hardy his first career writing credit ("story by").

"This is new for him, to get credit," Kelly Marcel, who wrote the screenplay, told Empire this summer. "But it's not new for him to be this involved. He's absolutely 100 percent committed to everything that he does. He’s married to Venom. He loves this character. He's very involved in what he thinks should happen."

Marcel added: "He doesn't get a pen and write. We spent months breaking the story together on FaceTime, riffing on ideas, seeing what worked, seeing what didn't. Then I took everything we spoke about and holed up somewhere for three months quietly, knocking out a script."