The Spider-Man nemesis took over the box office in his opening weekend, setting a significant new record for October with an estimated $80 million domestically. Venom topped the previous October opening weekend by more than $20 million – that had been set by Gravity in 2013, which took in $55.7 million.
Despite mixed-at-best reviews, Venom managed to make a splash; in addition to its $80 million at home, it also brought in $125.2 million overseas, for a total of more than $205 million against its $100 million budget. This has, of course, already led to talks of a sequel.
A large factor in Venom’s commercial success may be, as many have pointed out, the fact that there are no other big superhero films that have released around the same time. The next true hero fare won’t arrive until November’s animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse feature, and DC’s Aquaman arrives in December.