Venom: The Last Dance continues its impressive box office run, securing the top position for the third consecutive week, although analysts predict it may experience a decline in the coming week.

This weekend’s box office landscape remains unchanged as Venom: The Last Dance adheres closely to our earlier forecasts, clinching the coveted top spot for the third straight weekend. This achievement highlights another successful three-day performance for this franchise installment, despite witnessing a drop in domestic earnings. While it is poised to be the lowest-grossing entry in the series so far, it does not reflect the dire predictions that some had anticipated. In fact, its earnings far exceed those of other recent releases such as Morbius, Madame Web, The Marvels, and Joker: Folie a Deux, illustrating its relative success in a competitive market.

With minimal competition on the horizon, Venom: The Last Dance confidently secured the number one position this weekend, amassing a remarkable $16.2 million and bringing its total box office earnings to nearly $115 million. It’s important to consider that the initial two films in this series each achieved domestic earnings in the neighborhood of $141-$142 million by their second weekend. The original film from 2018 ultimately garnered $213.5 million domestically and a staggering $856 million worldwide, while its 2021 sequel, Let There Be Carnage, displayed similar domestic success but fell short on the international stage with $501.5 million.

In the race for second place at the box office, both Heretic and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever contended fiercely for the number two position. Ultimately, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever triumphed with a solid $11.1 million, while Heretic, featuring Hugh Grant and capitalizing on post-Halloween horror vibes, closely followed with an even $11 million. Notably, the faith-based film Best Christmas Pageant received a commendable A CinemaScore rating, contrasting with Heretic‘s more typical C rating for its genre, indicating varied audience reception between these two offerings.

The Wild Robot secured the fourth position after previously holding the #2 spot last weekend, while Smile 2 rounded out the top five with a noteworthy $5 million, successfully pushing its total past the $60 million milestone.

Robert Zemeckis’ latest endeavor, Here, continued its rapid decline at the box office, earning only $2.4 million this weekend, resulting in a drop to the #8 position after debuting at #5 last weekend with just under $5 million. This underwhelming performance is particularly striking given its substantial budget, reportedly over ten times higher than its current earnings, largely due to Tom Hanks’ involvement and the extensive use of de-aging AI technology.

Completing the top ten, Conclave occupied the #6 spot with $4.1 million. This critically acclaimed drama only experienced a minor 19% decline this weekend, accumulating a total exceeding $21 million. If audience enthusiasm continues, projections suggest it could reach around $35 million domestically. Meanwhile, one of the fall’s standout films, Sean Baker’s Anora, finally penetrated the top 10, securing the #7 position with $2.5 million. A24’s We Live in Time landed at #9 with $2.2 million, while Terrifier 3 managed to hold on to the #10 spot with earnings of $1.5 million.

As previously noted, franchise films have dominated the box office this fall, with only The Wild Robot providing a refreshing alternative to the usual fare that has been prevalent over the past few months, even interrupting the steady success of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which is on track for a significant $449 million worldwide total. When considering original films, the last non-franchise title to capture the top spot was Paramount’s IF back in May.

The upcoming week appears poised for a relatively slow box office, with the only significant release likely to be Red One, featuring star power from Dwayne Johnson, J.K. Simmons, Chris Evans, and Lucy Liu. However, this is merely a precursor to the pre-Thanksgiving surge, where highly anticipated films like Wicked and Gladiator II will enter the fray, vying for dominance at the box office.

What films did you catch at the theaters this weekend? Which titles do you predict will emerge victorious in the upcoming weeks?