Both new releases had reason to celebrate this weekend. Venom overcame a poor critical reception and became a hit with audiences as it claimed the October opening weekend record and A Star Is Born made its presence known with a robust opening as well.
With an estimated opening of $80.2 million, Venom not only claimed the top spot at the box office, but it also broke the October opening weekend record had has been held by Gravity since 2013. A lot of insiders thought the film would crater over the weekend thanks to the poor critical response but audiences seemed to really have fun with the film. The movie scored a “B+” CinemaScore which is pretty decent for a comic book film and now all eyes will be on how it holds in the coming weeks. The official budget came out this weekend at $100 million and this a fantastic start for a film with a relatively low price tag. Internationally, Venom delivered $125.2 million from 58 markets for a record October global opening over $205 million. South Korea led all markets with an estimated $15.7 million opening, the second largest opening for Sony in the market behind Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Landing in second place, and impressive in its own right is A Star Is Born with an estimated $42.9 million. The film claims the tenth largest opening for the month of October and the ladies really showed up for this one with the audience being 66% female. The film earned an “A” CinemaScore and since this is an awards contender and caters to an older audience, expect the legs on this one to be quite stellar. Internationally, A Star is Born delivered $14 million from 31 markets including a $5.3 million launch in the UK along with a $2.1 million second place opening in France and a $1.9 million debut in Germany. Several markets have yet to open including South Korea (Oct 9), Italy (Oct 11), Brazil (Oct 11), Mexico (Oct 12), Australia (Oct 18) and Japan (Dec 21).
Falling to third is Smallfoot with an estimated $14.4 million. The animated feature fell an ok 37.5% and brings its domestic total to just shy of $43 million. The film also added $11.7 million internationally this weekend for a global total that now tops $75 million.
Dropping from first to fourth is Night School with an estimated $12.2 million. The film dipped 55% which is steep but it did face heavy competition from two new releases. The domestic total now stands at $46.7 million and the film is already a hit as it has crossed its $29 million budget.
Rounding out the top five is The House With A Clock In Its Walls which grossed an estimated $7.3 million. The film dropped 42% which is a better hold than it experienced last weekend, The domestic total now stands at $55 million and there is still enough gas in the tank for a domestic finish in the $65-70 million range.
Check out the full top ten results below:
| Film | Total | % Change | Gross to Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onward | $10,601,952 | -72.9% | $60.3 |
| Bloodshot | $9,176,695 | NEW | $9.17 |
| I Still Believe | $9,103,614 | NEW | $9.10 |
| The Invisible Man | $5,890,805 | -61.1% | $64.3 |
| The Hunt | $5,304,455 | NEW | $5.3 |
| Sonic the Hedgehog | $2,522,584 | -67.3% | $145.7 |
| The Way Back | $2,356,115 | -71.2% | $13.3 |
| The Call of the Wild | $2,226,720 | -67.1% | $62 |
| Emma. | $1,295,215 | -73% | $9.9 |
| Bad Boys for Life | $1,102,208 | -63.5% | $204.2 |
