Sony’s “Venom” is set to smash the previous opening weekend record for October with an estimated $80 million from 4,250 theaters. The film, which stars Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock, who becomes the eponymous anti-hero Venom, is likely to beat out the last record-holder, “Gravity,” which debuted in 2013 to $55.7 million. Sony is projecting a more conservative estimate of $70 million, but even that number marks a 22% margin over “Gravity’s” opening tally. “Venom” earned $32.75 million on Friday, with a B+ CinemaScore and abysmal Rotten Tomatoes score of 31%. Its audience score is somewhat more optimistic however, at 89%. Ruben Fleischer directed the dark twist on a superhero fable, with Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, and Reid Scott also starring. Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg, and Kelly Marcel wrote the script. Meanwhile the weekend’s other major opener, Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born,” is looking to top initial forecasts with $42 million from 3,686 domestic sites. Warner Bros.’ remake has already earned $6.0 million abroad from 4,590 screens. In the U.K., it’s reeled in $1 million, with $375,5000 in France, $580,000 in Germany, and $107,000 in Russia. “Star” will roll out in Korea, Italy, Brazil, Mexico, Australia and Japan in the coming weeks and months. Expectations have been high for “A Star Is Born,” which premiered to rave reviews at the Venice International Film Festival. The film marks Cooper’s directorial debut from a script he co-wrote with Eric Roth and Will Fetters. “Star” has landed a 91% certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an A CinemaScore. Coming in third at the box office should be the second frame of animated feature “Smallfoot” with $14 million. Warner Bros.’ family film has earned $52.6 million in its first eight days, including $21 million from abroad. “Smallfoot” features the voice talents of Channing Tatum, Zendaya, LeBron James, Yara Shahidi, Common, Danny DeVito, Gina Rodriguez, and Jimmy Tatro. Close behind is Tiffany Haddish and Kevin Hart’s comedy “Night School,” which is looking to add another $12 million to its total in its second weekend. The Universal pic debuted to $27 million last weekend, and has amassed $43 million, with $5.9 million overseas. In fifth should be Universal’s “The House With a Clock in Its Walls,” tacking on another $7 million to its current $73 million total in its third frame. Other weekend openers include “The Hate U Give” from 20th Century Fox and “Loving Pablo” from Universal, which debuted in 36 and 15 theaters, respectively, for estimated tallies of $550,000 and $15,000. “The Hate U Give” is based on Angie Thomas’ novel of the same name and stars Amandla Stenberg. George Tillman Jr. directed from Audrey Wells’ script. Spanish drama “Loving Pablo” stars Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz as drug lord Pablo Escobar and journalist Virginia Vallejo, who have an affair in ’80s. RELATED:<doc-sep>MONDAY AM: A Columbus Day holiday in the Northeast and Canada’s Thanksgiving fired up yesterday’s grosses with Sony’s Venom grossing $9.6M, a record for a Monday in October besting Gravity‘s Columbus Day Monday of $6.2M, while Warner Bros.’ A Star Is Born remained at a sharp pitch with $6.8M. Venom is now just under $90M through four days ($89.9M) surpassing all expectations, ditto for Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga’s music drama which with Tuesday and Wednesday previews stands at $51M. Producers Matt Tolmach, Amy Pascal and Avi Arad have been a great force in getting Venom off the ground. Yesterday’s box office was aided by 42% K-12 schools off in addition to 16% colleges per ComScore. Related Story 'Doctor Who' Season 11 Review: Jodie Whittaker's Debut About More Than Time - New York Comic Con Venom came in ahead of its FSS $80M projection reported on Sunday with $80.2M, ditto for A Star Is Born which filed $42.9M. Both films lead all titles to the best October weekend ever at the box office with $177.7M, outstripping the previous record October weekend in 2015 when The Martian led all movies to a $151.4M in U.S./Canada business. SUNDAY AM FINAL after Saturday 11:44 PM update: Sony is calling the weekend on Venom at an $80M opening after a strong Saturday of $26.6M, -19% from Friday, a percent ease that’s in the Friday-to-Saturday sphere of Guardians of the Galaxy (-18%), and a tad steeper than Justice League (-15%). Sony is projecting a $20.7M Sunday. At this level, Venom reps Sony’s seventh-best domestic opening of all-time, behind Spider-Man 3 ($151.1M), Spider-Man: Homecoming ($117M), Spider-Man ($114.8M), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($91.6M), Skyfall ($88.3M), and Spider-Man 2 ($88.1M). That speaks volumes about why Venom is so high-up on the studio’s domestic B.O. opener list: In Marvel comic book canon and even in Spider-Man 3, the black-clad, fanged anti-hero is a spinoff of Spider-Man. In the wake of Sony teaming with Disney’s Marvel on Homecoming, the Culver City studio is careful to distinguish its own Marvel properties. They don’t consider Venom a Spider-Man spinoff or Spider-Man related. But seriously, let’s call Venom‘s success for what it is: Moviegoers aren’t flocking to this pic because it’s original IP. It’s because they’re connecting it to Spider-Man (even though he’s never mentioned or alluded to in the movie). A Fandango survey of 1,000 moviegoers indicated prior to the weekend that 93% were looking forward to seeing a different kind of Marvel anti-hero, while 90% couldn’t wait for a future Venom/Spider-Man match-up (even though the former property isn’t part of Disney’s MCU) while 80% were going because they were Tom Hardy fans. The film also has an anti-establishment sensibility, which is an attribute in the current political environment, and some in the industry believe fans took to that. Sony was hoping that Venom would launch a greater cinematic universe of characters seen in the Spider-Man verse, and well, mission accomplished this weekend with this very solid start. In the wings is a Morbius movie, with Daniel Espinosa directing and Jared Leto as the title vampire and Spider-Man villain, as well as projects centering around Kraven the Hunter, Silk, Jackpot, Nightwatch, Black Cat and Silver (the latter two now poised to get their own separate films versus the originally planned teaming). Imax pulled in $8.4M stateside from 408 screens, making Venom the large-format exhibitor’s second-highest grossing opening ever for October. Says Imax Entertainment CEO Greg Foster, “What a weekend for the business! The expansion of the marketplace was incredible and shows we can continue to thrive when the titles are right. Venom served the core Marvel and Imax fans, and Star Is Born played to the romantic, dreamers, and cinefiles.” Venom dropped a teaser on YouTube back in February which clocked 19M views, even though it didn’t show the monstrous protagonist. He was later added in subsequent trailers, starting at CinemaCon back in March, with a social media universe that exploded to close to 755M across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube views, with a high viral trailer rate of 36 to 1. Eminem, who performs the title song, has shared plenty of Venom materials to his 132M fans, making him the pic’s social media star ahead of Hardy’s 3.3M followers. A San Diego Comic-Con splash marked Hardy’s first time in Hall H back in July. Other marketing highlights included a fan immersion where Spotify subscribers found themselves caught between the voices of Hardy’s Eddie Brock and Venom through an immersive 3D audio spot. Fans were able to become Venom via augmented reality through socially shareable Facebook and Snapchat lenses; on Snapchat they were able to toggle between Eminem’s “Venom” track and a custom Venom voice modulator. Sony On TV, Sony sponsored Draft Kings’ largest free to play contest during NFL’s opening weekend, as well as a spot during the Sept. 6 opening night game between the Eagles and Falcons. Sony created a comedic ESPN vignette in which former NFL athletes Charles Woodson and Randy Moss focus- grouped new mascots with hardcore Raiders Fans, resulting in Venom becoming the fiercest choice, as he ferociously devours the room. There was also a sponsorship on the PPV boxing event Canelo vs. GGG on Sept. 15. Adult Swim ran funny, irreverent spots parodying modern home device commercials by pitching the “first-ever symbiote-infected” device that comically disrupt people’s lives. Discovery Channel produced a series of content pieces featuring the cast from ‘Shifting Gears’ speaking with Jack Gill (the action-designer on the film) about the stunts and action from the movie. On Twitch, there was the Venom Fortnite Challenge, where fans were given the opportunity to team up with their favorite gaming influencers in a live streaming Fortnite tournament. Top over-indexing markets for Venom included Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Toronto and Phoenix, as well as areas where there was a heavy armed forces presence. Hardy visited two USO bases and one additional one in San Antonio (non USO) where he screened the film. Warner Bros Venom and Warner Bros. A Star Is Born –which had a $15M Saturday, -4% from Friday for a revised FSS of $41.2M, with previews $42.6M–accounted for the best pre-sales October weekend record ever for Fandango. While Venom had the most advance ticket sales, A Star Is Born was close behind, with both besting the previous record set by 20th Century Fox’s The Martian. Again, both movies are propelling October to its best weekend ever, with north of $175.4M in ticket sales, per ComScore this morning. “It comes down to content, smart marketing, finding the right date, and having an extraordinary movie,” says Warners domestic distribution boss Jeff Goldenstein about the powerhouse weekend, adding, “This is a movie that we’re so proud of. Bradley Cooper did a great job directing and acting, and with Lady Gaga, told an incredible story.” While older women were always set on attending and then did, with PostTrak showing at 47% females over 25, it was important to get the under-25 bunch in the door, and that’s where those word-of-mouth premiums and Dolby previews came in Wednesday and Thursday night. The studio also targeted Gaga’s Little Monster fans. While the under-25 bunch gave A Star Is Born an A+ on CinemaScore, PostTrak reflected a similar opinion, as they gave the pic a 91% overall positive. .Cooper and Gaga at Venice Film Festival. Kirsty Wigglesworth/Shutterstock Initially, A Star Is Born had a release date of Sept. 28. Then it was moved to May 18 (there was some pondering as to whether the pic should premiere at Cannes ala Warner’s The Great Gatsby). But rather than rush the movie out, the studio gave Cooper more time to hone the feature for an awards season launch. The key in selling A Star Is Born to older audiences was establishing that Cooper could direct and sing, and Gaga could act. There was a deep commitment to sell the pic on its intimacy, authenticity, and emotional truth, and to not over-market it. There were various trailers that Warner Bros. considered, and settled on one that begins with Cooper singing “Maybe It’s Time,” and Gaga’s vocal soaring at the end in “Shallow” after telling Cooper’s Jack that she doesn’t sing her own songs because of her looks. It’s a story of wish fulfillment, particularly for anyone who has ever had the feeling that they can’t do something and then overcomes it. The trailer was finished for six months, but Warner wanted to drop it at just the right time to create a proper word-of-mouth resonance, so they chose June. By August, the festival strategy for the pic’s launch at Venice and TIFF began, and in between that time, the studio dropped four clips/teasers, which leaned into other elements about the film, such as the male relationships. The clips drop at this time was to capitalize on the hot word-of-mouth coming out of Venice, the advertising strategy dovetailing the word of mouth strategy for subtle campaign. Live Nation funded under a third of A Star Is Born‘s $40M production cost. Interscope Records was a huge partner for Warners, the two previously collaborating on The Great Gatsby, and the record company dropped the soundtrack on opening day instead of ahead the film. The reason being is because the songs are part of the film’s narrative and they take on a greater meaning after you see the pic. The A Star Is Born soundtrack is a huge hit on iTunes, not just as a top-selling album, but its tracks have notched the no. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 9 top single spots. Says RelishMix about Warners’ strategy with the pic’s music, “Cooper and Gaga’s chemistry was something special from the start, and it’s paying dividends in clips. Warner Bros. campaign has been very strategic in sharing these clips on its official YouTube Channel and Gaga’s own channel which has over 10M subscribers.” The “Shallow” video of Gaga and Cooper singing that was released on YouTube has drawn a huge 18M views. Overall, social media universe is over 300M for the pic, per RelishMix, with Lady Gaga’s social media of 155M followers making up more than half of that. Both Venom and A Star Is Born were fully CAA-packaged movies, both put together in-house at the agency. On Venom, they repped character co-creator Todd McFarlane, director Ruben Fleischer (who sees his highest opening of all-time at the B.O. surpassing Zombieland‘s $24.7M), star Tom Hardy and actors Riz Ahmed and Woody Harrelson. On A Star Is Born, director/star/producer Bradley Cooper is a CAA client, along with co-scribe Eric Roth, producer Todd Phillips, as well as Lady Gaga and actors Anthony Ramos and Alec Baldwin. For Warners, the Bradley Cooper-Lady Gaga music romance is their second-biggest October opener after Gravity ($55.7M). Warners is savoring third place as well with their animated Smallfoot, which is set to do $14.9M (-35%) in weekend two after a $6.3M Saturday (+81% over Friday) and a running total by EOD tomorrow of $42.7M. Universal has slots 4 & 5 with Night School and its weekend 2 of $12.2M (-55%) and a 10-day of $46.7M, as well as the Amblin title they’re distributing, The House With a Clock In Its Walls which is seeing a current third weekend of $7.2M, -42% and a running total by end of Sunday of $55M. Fox 2000’s The Hate U Give was +10% today with $193K on its way to a $500K opening and a $13,8K. Studio-reported estimates for the weekend of Oct. 5-7 thumb rank pic dis scrs(cg) fri sat sun 3day total wk 1 Venom Sony 4,250 $32.7M $26.6M $20.7M $80M $80M 1 2 A Star Is Born WB 3,686 $15.8M $15M $10.5M $41.2M $41.6M 1 3 Smallfoot WB 4,131 $3.5M $6.3M $5M $14.9M (-35%) $42.7M 2 4 Night School Uni 3,019 (+9) $3.5M $5.3M $3.4M $12.2M (-55%) $46.7M 2 5 The House… Amb/Uni 3,463 (-129) $1.7M $3.1M $2.3M $7.2M (-42%) $55M 3 6 A Simple Favor LG 2,297 $1M $1.4M $969K $3.4M (-48%) $49M 4 7 The Nun NL/WB 2,264<doc-sep>
The unlikely dynamic duo of “Venom” and “A Star Is Born” have livened up the fall moviegoing season with the best October weekend of all time in North America. Tom Hardy’s superhero tale “Venom” grabbed $80 million at 4,250 sites for Sony and Marvel while the Lady Gaga-starring remake of “A Star Is Born” earned an estimated $42.6 million at 3,686 locations for Warner Bros. — both well above pre-weekend forecasts. “Venom” smashed the record for an October opening, topping the $55.8 million launch of “Gravity” by 43%. “Venom” also dominated at the international box office with $125.2 million, setting an international record for an October opening. South Korea led the way with $16.3 million. “Venom” and the critically acclaimed “A Star Is Born” were both able to draw effectively from beyond their core audiences. The strong domestic openings pushed the weekend’s total business to about $174 million, or 15% above the prior mark of $151.5 million set in 2015 when Matt Damon’s “The Martian” opened, according to comScore. Adrian Smith, Sony’s domestic distribution chief, told Variety that the studio was able to overcome downbeat reviews by putting emphasis on “Venom’s” fun factor. “The idea was always to make a film that all audiences could enjoy,” he added. Sony is hoping “Venom” will launch a shared universe similar to Disney’s lucrative superhero franchise. “Zombieland” director Ruben Fleischer helmed the film, which carries a $100 million budget. Hardy portrays Eddie Brock, a journalist bound to the alien entity known as Venom. The fourth iteration of “A Star Is Born,” directed by Bradley Cooper, arrived in theaters amid a wave of positive buzz and an awards campaign that’s gained traction since its debut at the Venice Film Festival on Sept. 5. The release of the soundtrack album on Friday added to the film’s drawing power, according to Warner’s domestic distribution head Jeff Goldstein. “This is a movie that will be around for months,” Goldstein added. “There’s a lot of room for growth, particularly among younger audiences.” Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with comScore, credited Sony and Warner Bros. with savvy scheduling and noted that “Venom” is yet another success for Marvel. “A box office star is born as October sings a glorious tune the likes of which the industry has never heard before for the oft overlooked month, as a perfect harmony of superhero blockbuster and Oscar bound musical create one of the most perfectly orchestrated movie weekends at the multiplex in recent memory,” he added. “And the Marvel brand is just unstoppable.” The weekend lifted the overall domestic total for 2018 to $9.11 billion as of Sunday, up 9.2% over the same point last year, according to comScore. Universal’s “First Man,” Fox’s “Bad Times at the El Royale” and Sony’s “Goosebumps 2” are the major openers next weekend. Universal’s “Halloween” is expected to do strong business of at least $50 million when it opens on Oct. 19. Warner Bros.’ second weekend of animated entry “Smallfoot” finished third this weekend with $14.4 million at 4,151 venues, followed by Universal’s second session of Kevin Hart-Tiffany Haddish comedy “Night School” with $12.3 million at 3,019 locations. Amblin-Universal’s “The House With a Clock in Its Walls” finished fifth with $7.3 million in its third weekend for a domestic total of $55.1 million and $87.4 million worldwide. Lionsgate’s fourth weekend of Anna Kendrick’s comic thriller “A Simple Favor” came in sixth with $3.4 million to take its 24-day domestic total to $49 million. Warner’s fifth weekend of horror-thriller “The Nun” followed in seventh with $2.6 million to push its 31-day take to $113 million. Lionsgate-CBS Films’ second weekend of “Hell Fest” was battling for eighth place with Warner’s eighth weekend of “Crazy Rich Asians” with $2.1 million each. “Asians” has hit $169 million and is 2018’s 10th biggest domestic grosser. Rounding out the top 10 was Fox’s fourth weekend of “The Predator” with $900,000, giving the sci-fier $50 million in 24 days. Studio 8-Sony’s “White Boy Rick” followed in 11th with $575,000 in its fourth frame to reach $29 million domestically. National Geographic’s second weekend of rock climbing documentary “Free Solo” finished 12th with $540,000 at only 41 sites, followed by Fox’s debut of teen drama “The Hate U Give” with $500,000 at 36 locations. “The Hate” will go wide on Oct. 19. RELATED: