Venom: Tom Hardy superhero film dominates China box office with huge $111m opening

Venom has landed a huge $111m debut in China, making it the second biggest opening ever for a superhero film in the country, behind Avengers: Infinity War.

The Marvel film currently stands at $674m worldwide, with projections the film may reach past $700m globally by the end of its cinematic run. It's also the best all-time opening for a Sony film in China.

It follows Eddie (Tom Hardy), a reporter, who attempts to investigate what he suspects are experiments fatal to their test subjects, only to come into contact with an alien symbiote known as Venom, as it starts to take over.

Venom shrugged off widely negative reviews to take $142m over its first 10 days in the US.

The film is part of Sony's attempt to launch a Spider-Manless Spiderverse (he's still bound to the MCU and so can't appear in any Sony-only films). It was supposed to be followed by Silver & Black, which centres on the superheroes Black Cat and Silver Sable and will be directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, though the film has been pulled from its initial release date.

Hardy is joined in the film by Riz Ahmed, Michelle Williams, Scott Haze, and Reid Scott.

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