Weekend Box Office (October 5 - 7, 2018)

by Gitesh Pandya

THIS WEEKEND Generating summer numbers in the fall with a new October record was the dark comic book actioner Venom which flew past industry expectations to open with an eye-popping $80M, according to estimates. The PG-13 entry starring Tom Hardy averaged a sizzling $18,831 from 4,250 theaters and rocketed past the previous highs for the biggest opening weekend of all-time for this month which were $55.8M for 2013's Gravity and $54.3M for 2015's The Martian.

While not a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Venom did beat the opening of the last MCU pic which was Ant-Man and the Wasp's $75.8M from last July. That is quite an accomplishment especially since overall moviegoing is slower at this time of year and reviews were quite negative. Film critics clearly gave a thumbs down across the board, however paying audiences had a much different opinion. They were looking for two hours of big-screen fun and they liked what they got. The CinemaScore grade was a B+. Just like with 2016's Suicide Squad, comic fans did not let bad reviews get in the way and instead came out for the darker side of this genre.

Sony will keep the Spidey franchise going with the animated adventure Spider-Man: Into the Verse opening on December 14 followed by next summer's live-action Spider-Man: Far From Home opening for the Independence Day holiday and being the first MCU film to follow the next eagerly-awaited Avengers movie.

Produced by Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach and Amy Pascal, Venom managed to secure a huge global opening weekend of $205.2M as international markets were on fire with an additional $125.2M. Top markets were Korea at $15.7M, Russia with $11.7M, the U.K. at $9.3M and Mexico with $7.1M. Sony is still trying to secure a release in China.

Though opening with half as much money, the music-driven remake A Star is Born powered its way to a sensational debut in second place grossing an estimated $41.3M from 3,686 locations for a sturdy $11,191 average. That beat out the $35M bow of the recent Mamma Mia sequel which also played to a mature female audience. Including mid-week sneaks, the R-rated Star sits at $42.6M.

Critics gave glowing reviews and Oscar buzz has been flowing for some time now. Starpower from Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper (who also directs) played a big part and strong word-of-mouth from audiences will help keep this one going in the weeks ahead. The CinemaScore was an A and studio data showed that the crowd was 66% female and 86% over age 25.

These two new releases combined for a stunning $121.3M in ticket sales leading the marketplace to the biggest October weekend of all-time.

Sophomore releases followed. The Warner Bros. animated comedy Smallfoot dropped a reasonable 35% to an estimated $14.9M to boost the cume to $42.8M. Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish saw a 55% slide for their comedy Night School which took in an estimated $12.3M in its second weekend for a $46.8M sum for Universal.

The studio also ranked next with The House With a Clock in Its Walls which grossed an estimated $7.3M, down 42%, giving the fantasy adventure $55.1M to date. A Simple Favor followed dropping 48% to an estimated $3.4M for $49M overall for Lionsgate.

Fright films followed as The Nun did an estimated $2.6M for Warners and Hell Fest collected an estimated $2.1M for CBS, both falling by more than half. New totals are $113.4M and $8.9M, respectively.

Sleeper hit Crazy Rich Asians pulled in an estimated $2.1M, off 50%, putting Warner Bros. at $169.1M. The studio placed four different films in the top ten this weekend. Rounding out the list was Fox's The Predator with an estimated $900,000, off a disturbing 77%, and $50M to date.

Opening in limited release outside of the top ten was the critically acclaimed drama The Hate U Give which posted a debut of an estimated $500,000 from 36 locations for a per-theater average of $13,889 for Fox. THUG goes nationwide on October 19.

The top ten films grossed an October record estimate of $166.8M which was up 72% from last year when Blade Runner 2049 debuted at number one with $32.8M; and up 79% from 2016 when The Girl on the Train opened in the top spot with $24.5M.


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Watch the trailer for Captain Marvel.

Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when First Man, Goosebumps 2 and Bad Times At The El Royale all open.

# Title Oct 5 - 7 Sep 28 - 30 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Distributor
1 Venom $ 80,255,756 4,250 1 $ 18,884 $ 80,255,756 Sony
2 A Star is Born 42,908,051 3,686 1 11,641 44,258,051 Warner Bros.
3 Smallfoot 14,402,559 23,045,635 -37.5 4,131 2 3,486 42,263,504 Warner Bros.
4 Night School 12,514,925 27,257,615 -54.1 3,019 2 4,145 46,991,280 Universal
5 House with a Clock in Its Walls 7,332,665 12,605,120 -41.8 3,463 3 2,117 55,089,225 Universal
6 A Simple Favor 3,424,954 6,540,666 -47.6 2,408 4 1,422 49,004,310 Lionsgate
7 The Nun 2,703,281 5,428,875 -50.2 2,264 5 1,194 113,460,591 Warner Bros.
8 Crazy Rich Asians 2,166,626 4,102,788 -47.2 1,466 8 1,478 169,241,568 Warner Bros.
9 Hell Fest 2,083,759 5,130,963 -59.4 2,297 2 907 8,873,235 CBS Films
10 The Predator 947,358 3,860,826 -75.5 1,643 4 577 50,033,247 Fox
11 White Boy Rick 603,341 2,402,240 -74.9 880 4 686 23,351,427 Sony
12 Free Solo 562,786 294,288 91.2 41 2 13,726 977,697 NatGeo
13 The Hate U Give 512,035 36 1 14,223 512,035 Fox
14 Colette 492,981 386,540 27.5 107 3 4,607 1,272,741 Bleecker St.
15 Peppermint 473,806 1,766,458 -73.2 813 5 583 34,717,200 STX
16 Searching 443,106 955,577 -53.6 412 7 1,076 25,649,766 Sony
17 Christopher Robin 435,545 340,471 27.9 1,638 10 266 98,102,927 Disney
18 The Old Man and the Gun 403,928 142,131 184.2 49 2 8,243 594,383 Fox Searchlight
19 The Wife 383,403 714,351 -46.3 358 8 1,071 6,790,237 Sony Classics
20 Mission: Impossible - Fallout 321,576 621,619 -48.3 361 11 891 219,754,005 Paramount
Top 5 $ 157,413,956 $ 74,877,911 110.2
Top 10 168,739,934 92,141,186 83.1
Top 20 173,372,441 100,365,359 72.7
Top 20 vs. 2017 173,372,441 102,292,291 69.5

Last Updated: October 7, 2018 at 2:35PM ET

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