The reviews for Venom might not have been the kindest, but it seems Sony’s symbiote bonded pretty well with cinemagoers in its opening weekend. The Tom Hardy-starring Marvel adaptation pulled in $80 million this weekend in the US, breaking the October record previously held by Gravity by over $20 million. It fared well elsewhere in the world too, bringing its worldwide gross to $205 million. In the UK it raked in a hefty £7.1 million. It remains to be seen whether the story of Eddie Brock and his alien parasite will hold strong with audiences in the coming weeks, but from its opening success you can expect Sony to already be looking at sequel potential.
Elsewhere, A Star Is Born also struck a chord, pulling in $42 million and stoking plenty of positive reactions on social media from early audiences. Positive word-of-mouth about the Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga music-fuelled romance should serve it well going forward – it received an ‘A’ CinemaScore, so expect this one to resonate through to Oscar season. It also pulled in £4 million at the UK box office.
In the US, Venom and A Star is Born were trailed by Smallfoot in third ($14.9 million), followed by Night School ($12.3 million) and The House With A Clock In Its Walls ($7 million).
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