Sony has seemingly succeeded in launching its Spider-Man-less Spider-Verse, as Ruben Fleischer's Venom looks to be headed for a massive opening weekend.
After initial estimates had Venom eyeing a $60 million-plus opening, the first of Sony's Spider-Man spinoff films is projected to beat expectations and earn a pretty marvelous $80 million. What makes that all the more impressive is that the film is facing stiff competition from Warner Bros.' A Star is Born remake, which will take in $42.2 million over the weekend.
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Even if those numbers were to slightly lower come Monday, Venom will easily overtake the prior record for biggest October opening -- a record that formerly belonged to 2013's Gravity with $55.7 million. The film also earned the record for biggest opening day take in October with a surprising $32.9 million on Friday. That record previously belonged to Paranormal Activity 3's opening day, which saw the horror sequel earn $26.3 million.
Despite the trailers seemingly getting fans talking for all of the wrong reasons -- whether it be the mispronunciation of the word symbiote, or the strange voiceover choice for the symbiote himself -- that response doesn't seem to have affected Venom in any major way. More often than not, bad reviews tend to affect box office estimates, typically resulting in lower numbers when all is said and done. Despite mixed reactions to the film from critics, the film's audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is currently 89%, which is much higher than its critical score of 31%, possibly explaining why the film's low critical score didn't hurt it much here.
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In theaters now, director Ruben Fleischer’s Venom stars Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock/Venom, Michelle Williams as Anne Weying and Riz Ahmed as Carlton Drake/Riot.
(via Deadline)