Venom chews box office competition

LOS ANGELES, (Variety.com– The improbable dynamic duo of "Venom" and "A Star Is Born" has animated the fall movie season with the best October weekend of all time in North America.

Tom Hardy's "Venom" superhero story has netted $ 80 million on 4,250 sites for Sony and Marvel, while the "One Star is Born" remake for Lady Gaga has returned $ 42.6 million 3,686 sites for Warner Bros. . "Venom" broke the opening record of October, exceeding 43% the launch of "Gravity", amounting to $ 55.8 million.

"Venom" also dominated the international box office with $ 125.2 million, setting an international record for an opening in October. South Korea led the way with $ 16.3 million.

Critically acclaimed "Venom" and "A Star Is Born" have both been able to effectively fire beyond their target audience. Strong domestic market openings pushed total weekend business to approximately $ 174 million, up 15% from the previous $ 151.5 million ceiling set in 2015 when The Martian "by Matt Damon. comGoal.

Adrian Smith, head of distribution at Sony, told Variety that the studio had managed tocomReduce criticism by focusing on the Venom's entertainment factor. "The idea has always been to make a film that will appeal to all audiences," he added.

Sony hopes that "Venom" will launch a shared universe similar to the lucrative franchise of Disney's superheroes. Zombieland's director, Ruben Fleischer, directed the film, with a budget of $ 100 million. Hardy describes Eddie Brock, a journalist linked to the extraterrestrial entity known as Venom.

The fourth iteration of "A Star Is Born," led by Bradley Cooper, arrived in the theaters amid a wave of positive buzz and an awards campaign that has gained momentum since its launch at Venice Festival on September 5th. The release of the soundtrack The album Friday added to the film's appeal, according to Jeff Goldstein, head of distribution at Warner, UK.

"It's a movie that will last for months," added Goldstein. "There is a lot of room for growth, especially among young people."

Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at comScore, credits Sony and Warner Bros with sound planning. "A box-office star was born while October sings a glorious air that the industry had never heard before for a month often overlooked: a perfect harmony between the superproductions of superheroes and the musical Oscar was one of the most perfectly orchestrated films. weekends at the multiplex in recent memory, "he added.

The weekend brought total domestic domestic spending for 2018 to $ 9.11 billion on Sunday, up 9.2% from the same level last year. Universal's "first man", Fox's "The Bad Weather" and Sony's "Goosebumps 2" are the big pitchers of the upcoming weekend. Universal's Halloween is expected to generate at least $ 50 million in strong business when it opens on October 19th.

Second animated weekend of Warner Bros., Smallfoot finished third this weekend with $ 14.4 million spread over 4,151 sites, followed by the second session of Universal, Kevin Hart-Tiffany Haddish. comedy "Night School" with $ 12.3 million spread over 3,019 sites. The house with a clock in the walls of Amblin-Universal finished fifth with $ 7.3 million during its third weekend, for a national total of $ 55.1 million and $ 87.4 million in the world.

Fourth Lionsgate Weekend on Anna Kendrick comThe thriller ic "A Simple Favor" is ranked sixth with $ 3.4 million, bringing its national total over 24 days to $ 49 million. Warner's fifth horror thriller "The Nun" was followed by seventh place, with $ 2.6 million, reaching $ 113 million.

The second Lionsgate-CBS Films "Hell Fest" weekend was eighth with Warner's eighth weekend "Crazy Rich Asians" with $ 2.1 million each. "Asians" has reached $ 169 million and is the 10th largest turnover of 2018.

The fourth weekend of Fox's "The Predator" series was ranked at $ 900,000, or $ 50 million in 24 days. White Boy Rick, of Studio 8-Sony, followed with $ 11 million, or $ 575,000 for the fourth time, to reach $ 29 million in the domestic market.

National Geographic's "Free Solo" climbing documentary, ranked 12th with $ 540,000 on only 41 sites, finished 12th, followed by the start of the "The Hate U Give" teen drama with 500 $ 000 on 36 sites. "The Hate" will be wide on October 19th.