Venom is ready for his close-up.
Sony Pictures
The weekend box-office competition took a licking from Venom and his extraordinarily creepy tongue. Despite some not-so-lovely reviews, the creepy Symbiote, played by Tom Hardy, destroyed the previous box-office record for October, earning $80 million. That record had been held by 2013's Gravity, which opened to $55.8 million.
A very different movie took second place: Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's remake of A Star is Born earned $41.3 million.
With those two major openings helped out by other films, this was "easily the best October (box-office) weekend ever," the Associated Press reported.
Venom wasn't just a North American favorite. It crushed the international box office as well, earning $125.2 million, led by South Korean receipts of $16.3 million. That's an international record for an October opening, Variety reports.
Venom should have the superhero box office to itself for a while, according to Box Office Mojo. There are no other major superhero film release dates until Aquaman and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse arrive in December.
