A Star Is Born brought in some impressive box office numbers this weekend but it wasn’t enough to fend off Sony’s Venom.
Venom may have only earned a 32% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes but that didn’t stop fans from flocking out to see the iconic Spider-Man’s villain’s solo movie. The movie, starring Tom Hardy in the titular role, was originally projected to earn between $55-70 million in its opening weekend. Despite the mixed reception from critics and fans, Venom exceeded box office expectations by earning a whopping $80 million at the U.S. box office.
The film nearly doubled the $42.6 million earned by Oscar contender A Star Is Born but the impressive numbers don’t stop there. Venom earned $125.2 million from 58 territories overseas, bringing the film’s opening weekend to a massive worldwide total of $205.2 million. In the U.S., Venom now holds the highest opening weekend for a film released in October, besting the previous record held by 2013’s Gravity, which nabbed $55.7 million when it opened five years ago.
Though some fans didn’t connect with Venom and have compared it to films like Catwoman and Daredevil, the film isn’t being widely maligned. The critics score on Rotten Tomatoes may be low, but the audience score for the film currently sits at 89% from 16,370 reviews. It’s possible that the film has gained enough of a fan base that positive word of mouth from moviegoers could earn the film solid numbers next week, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Given the opening numbers and the post-credits tease, it looks like fans can expect to see more of Tom Hardy as Marvel’s iconic alien anti-hero in the future, though there hasn’t been an official announcement on a sequel just yet. We’ll be sure to keep you updated on all news regarding Venom as more information becomes available. What did you think of Venom? Do you think critics were too hard on the film? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Venom is in theaters now!
