Venom The Last Dance
A story of contradictions
EST V ACT domestic box office revenue
$89 – 128MM V $135MM
Mythosis universal quests used
4
Audience appeal
2.19% – 2.67%
Hidden Potential
$580 – 620MM
Venom: The Last Dance is a muddled story because of its contradictions. Even though Eddie learns the significance of the Codex, he’s more concerned with clearing his name. Strickland tries to destroy the Codex but is stopped, only for Venom to sacrifice himself to achieve the same goal. Mythosis, with the help of mythological tales, has extracted the plot structure of the movie to estimate and unlock its potential.
1. The invisible plot structure of Venom The Last Dance
1A. The script of Venom The Last Dance borrows 87% of its events from 4 mythological tales
Eddie’s quest is driven by the desire to be in a secure environment and mirrors the tale of Odysseus from Greek mythology. Both Odysseus and Eddie navigate their way back through hostile environment.
Venom’s quest is driven by the desire to serve one’s clan and mirrors the tale of Hanuman from Hindu mythology. Hanuman & Venom demonstrate loyalty, showing a willingness to sacrifice themselves.
Xenophage’s quest is driven by the desire to punish offenders and borrows events from the tale of Duryodhan from Hindu mythology. Both Duryodhan and Xenophage become ruthless after repeated failures.
Strickland has an inconsistent quest driven by the desires of Power & Idealism. Teddy & The Moons have underdeveloped quests of Preservation & Curiosity. Knull has no quest.
NOTE: Detailed mirroring of each character’s primary quest to their respective mythological tales is in section “3A. Quests of characters and their mythological counterparts”
Mythosis plot structure
#27,334
Tales interweaved
Odysseus, Hanuman & Duryodhan
I. How does interweaving mythological tales lead to infinite story plots?
II. Can the pursuit of a Desire have more than one quest?
2. The potential of Venom The Last Dance’s plot structure: $89 – 128MM
The interweaving of 32 mythological tales can generate a billion unique stories. By using these 32 tales, we can extract the plot structure of any story across various genres. Our study of blockbuster, hit, and flop plot structures led to the discovery of the Mythosis Code, a set of principles for creating compelling stories. The plot structure of a story is analyzed to see how well it adheres to these storytelling principles.
2A. Plot structure evaluation of Venom The Last Dance
- All Blockbusters have at least 3 universal quests. Venom: The Last Dance uses 4 universal quests of Tranquillity, Honour, Vengeance and Power.
- In Blockbusters, each universal quest is mirrored by ONLY ONE character. Eddie mirrors the universal quests of Tranquillity. Venom mirrors the quests of Honour. Xenophage mirrors the universal quest of Vengeance. Strickland mirrors the universal quests of Power & Idealism.
- Every Blockbuster character borrows at least 35% of the universal quest. Eddie borrows 18% of events from the quest of Tranquillity. Venom borrows 40% from the quest of Honour. Xenophage borrows 19% from the quest of Vengeance. Strickland borrows 7% from the quest of Power.
- Blockbusters have a quest interweaving threshold of 0.5. Interweaving occurs when events of 2 quests occur simultaneously in the story. Venom: The Last Dance’s quest interweaving score of 0.67 is above par.
An example of interweaving the quests of Venom & Xenophage:
2B. Box office revenue estimation of Venom The Last Dance
The plot structure of Venom: The Last Dance relies on a single quest of Honour. As a result, besides Venom, all the other characters have shallow quests. Besides the characters being uni-dimensional the shallow quests create gaps in the plot structure.
The Script Score measures a plot structure’s adherence to the four principles of Mythosis Code. We use the Script Score to estimate a movie’s audience appeal & revenues. Blockbuster plot structures have a score of at least 0.64 and appeal to 20% of the audiences.
Script Score
0.08
Audience appeal
2.19% – 2.67%
I. How is Mythosis Code used to estimate revenues?
II. Aren’t box-office revenues influenced by several factors beyond just the story plot?
3. The ideal plot structure of Venom The Last Dance
We have identified 32 mythological tales, the superset of all tales across cultures. The quests of these tales have also recurred over time periods. They represent human behaviours that are deeply embedded in our shared memories. Each tale is the richest expression of the pursuit of a human desire. The tales have a unique pattern of events spread over 5 major arcs.
Mapping a character’s quest to the relevant mythological tale reveals the gaps in their quest, if any. Plugging these gaps with the missing events deepens the character quest. The missing events also provide an opportunity for interweaving the various quests. These events strengthen the story and unlock its hidden potential.
3A.Quest of characters and their mythological counterparts
Quest 1: Eddie mirrors the universal quest for Tranquillity
Eddie’s desire for Tranquillity stems from the need to be in a secure environment. The tale of Odysseus from Greek mythology is the universal quest for Tranquillity.
Quest 2: Venom mirrors the universal quest for Honour
Venom’s desire for Honour stems from the need to be loyal to one’s clan/order. The tale of Hanuman from Hindu mythology is the universal quest for Honour.
Quest 3: Xenophage mirrors the universal quest for Vengeance
Xenophage’s desire for Vengeance stems from the need to punish offenders. The tale of Duryodhan from Hindu mythology is the universal quest for Vengeance.
3B.Gaps in the current plot structure
Venom: The Last Dance’s plot structure is weak mainly due to:
- The shallow quests of Eddie & Xenophage.
- Inconsistent quest of Strickland whose motivation changes from Power to Idealism
- Several quests (Teddy, The Moons) are under-developed.
3C.Unlocking the hidden potential
Mythosis has found two plot structures that can enhance the script of Venom: The Last Dance. The first one improves the current script by deepening & amending the existing quests. The second plot structure explores the ideal quest for Strickland.
- Venom: The Last Dance’s plot is a subset of Mythosis plot structure #27,334 that interweaves the universal quests of Tranquillity, Honour & Vengeance. This plot structure can generate revenues of ~$450MM in the domestic market.
- Plot structure #27,334 uses four arcs from Odysseus’ quest, and existing arcs (as used in the script) from the quests of Hanuman and Duryodhan.
- Borrowing additional events from the tale of Odysseus adds depth to the quest of Eddie.
- It also helps in amending the under-developed quests with only the necessary events. Stories with weak primary quests often use several character quests as fillers.
- Mythosis plot structure #793,785 that ensures a meaningful and consistent quest for Strickland.
- His quest borrows events from the Greek mythological tales of Prometheus.
- Plot structure #793,785 interweaves the universal quests of Tranquillity, Honour, Vengeance & Idealism.
- This plot structure has blockbuster potential & can generate ~$630MM revenues in the domestic market.
Leverage Mythosis plot structure #793,785 to enhance current revenues by 5x!
Tags: Hanuman, Odysseus, Duryodhan, Honour, Vengeance, Tranquillity, Tom Hardy, Kelly Marcel, Columbia Pictures, Marvel Entertainment, Sony Pictures Releasing, 2024