Game Of Box Offices: “Venom” slashes October records, “A Star Is Born” puts up decent debut

Despite the fact that most of us balked at the mere idea that “Venom” would be able to even touch the high end of its projected weekend, at $70 million, Sony’s third attempt at launching any sort of Spider-Man franchise (this one completely without the title character) was able to break the October record previously held by “Gravity” and deliver an $80 million opening. Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut “A Star Is Born” was about half of that, at $42.9 million. But I will give you one guess as to which one will have more staying power. Some are already predicting that next weekend they will simply flip and “A Star Is Born” will take over as Number One. That happened in the Three and Four positions, as the champ from last week, “Night School” was overcome by the animated feature “Smallfoot.” Jack Black’s “The House With A Clock In Its Walls” enjoyed one last roll in the Top Five before it will get bumped for yet another Jack Black Halloween film next week, “Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween.” Fox’s “The Hate U Give,” whose writer passed away over the weekend, fell well outside the Top Ten, at Number 13 with only $512,000.

“Venom” also grabbed the Per Theater Average win, with an average of $18,884 per 4,250 theaters. Runner-up went to the new documentary release “Studio 54,” which opened at one theater with $14,909. In its second weekend, Robert Redford’s final film “The Old Man & the Gun” saw the biggest weekend percentage increase, rising from Number 31 to breaking the List at Number 18, with a +184.2% increase. The biggest decrease outside the List was the Joan Jett documentary “Bad Reputation,” which took a whopping -97.0% drop. “Life Itself” fell off the list entirely, in only its third weekend, dropping -94.2%, while “Fahrenheit 11/9” was able to hang onto the list, but still fell -78.5%, providing the only BOMB of the weekend, although “The Meg” was one spot away from joining it. After nine weeks, “BlacKkKlansman” fell off the list, along with “Unbroken: Path To Redemption,” which could only hang on four weeks. “My Hero Academia: The Movie” and “Sui Dhaaga: Made In India” both closed after only one week each. Coming back to the list was Pixar’s “Incredibles 2,” landing at Number 21.

Next weekend, expect “Venom” to take a larger than normal tumble, as reviews were atrocious for the film. “Bad Times at the El Royale” will be searching for a $9.5 million opening while “First Man” will be looking to fight it out with “A Star Is Born,” shooting for a $20 million opening that should last the better part of the Oscar Season, while “A Star Is Born” will likely be looking to stay above a 50% drop, hitting somewhere around $21 million. In all fairness, “Venom” will likely still take the weekend, barring an enormous failure in its second weekend. “Goosebumps: Haunted Halloween” will look for a $17 million opening, likely gaining its way into a Top Five finish. “Shine” was lucky to see the List at all, so expect that to make way for the new features. “Incredibles 2” returning to the list could see it taking its final dive. If not, “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” will definitely be the animated fare to meet its maker. And with a bomb this week, do not be surprised to see “Fahrenheit 11/9” to take the final plunge off the list as well.

Box Office King: “Venom”
Box Office Queen: “A Star Is Born” (2018)
Per Theater Average Winner: “Venom”
Per Theater Average Winner (in 25LIST): “Venom”
Highest Percentage Increase: “The Old Man & The Gun”
Highest Percentage Increase (in 25LIST): “The Old Man & The Gun”

#	Title	Weekend	Total	Budget	Week	LW	CH
1	Venom (Sony)	$80,255,756	($80,255,756)	$100m	1st	N
2	A Star Is Born (WB)	$42,908,051	($42,908,051)	$36m	1st	N
3	Smallfoot (WB)	$14,402,559	($42,263,504)	$80m*	2nd	#2
4	Night School (Uni)	$12,514,925	($46,991,280)	$29m	2nd	#1
5	The House With A Clock In Its Walls (Uni)	$7,332,665	($55,088,925)	$42m	3rd	#3
6	A Simple Favor (LGF)	$3,424,954	($49,004,310)	$20m*	4th	#4
7	The Nun (WB)	$2,703,281	($113,460,591)	$22m	5th	#5
8	Crazy Rich Asians (WB)	$2,166,626	($169,241,568)	$30m	8th	#7
9	Hell Fest (LGF)	$2,083,759	($8,873,235)	$5.5m	2nd	#6
10	The Predator (Fox)	$947,358	($50,033,247)	$88m	4th	#8
11	White Boy Rick (Studio 8)	$603,341	($23,351,427)	$29m	4th	#9
12	Free Solo (NGE)	$540,000	($953,911)	**	2nd	#24
13	The Hate U Give (Fox)	$512,035	($512,035)	**	1st	N
14	Colette (BST)	$492,981	($1,272,741)	**	3rd	#22
15	Peppermint (STX)	$473,806	($34,717,200)	$25m	5th	#10
16	Searching (SGem)	$443,106	($25,649,766)	**	7th	#14
17	Christopher Robin (BV)	$435,545	($98,102,927)	$75m*	10th	#23
18	The Old Man & the Gun	$403,928	($594,383)	**	2nd	#31
19	The Wife (SPC)	$383,403	($6,790,237)	**	8th	#15
20	Mission: Impossible – Fallout (Par)	$321,576	($219,754,005)	$178m	11th	#18
21	My Hero Academia: Two Heroes (FUN)	$290,439	($5,729,558)	**	2nd	#11
22	Incredibles 2 (BV)	$280,305	($607,125,392)	$200m*	17th	#26
23	Andhadhun (Eros)	$278,677	($278,677)	$3.4m*	1st	N
24	The Meg (WB)	$266,049	($142,491,832)	$130m	9th	#13
25	Fahrenheit 11/9 (BC)	$238,510	($5,985,895)	$5m*	3rd	#12

***ALL DOMESTIC NUMBERS FROM BOX OFFICE MOJO***

OFF THE CHARTS THIS WEEK

(OFFICIALLY CLOSED)