Despite sitting at an unimpressive 32 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and 35 on Metacritic, Sony'sTom Hardy-starring Venom has pulled in a great debut at the box office over the weekend. As CNN reports, Venom is the No. 1 film at the U.S. box office right now, pulling in an estimated $80 million.
October has never been a particularly great month for the domestic box office, but both Venom and the Lady Gaga-starring, Bradley Cooper-directed A Star Is Born are exceptions. Venom, which also stars Riz Ahmed and Michelle Williams, has just scored the best opening weekend for a film in October, beating out previous record-holder Gravity, which debuted with $55.7 million.
A Star Is Born, meanwhile, has debuted at the No. 2 spot with $42.6 million. The film features Gaga in her first starring film role and has received considerably more critical acclaim than Venom. A Star Is Born is expected to continue to perform well and build buzz for the upcoming award season.
Speaking with Variety, Sony's domestic distribution chief Adrian Smith said that despite the mostly poor reviews, the marketing push Venom has received allowed it to overcome negative reception. "The idea was always to make a film that all audiences could enjoy," he explained. Venom also managed to perform well overseas, bringing in $125.2 million outside of America.
