Tom Hardy’s Venom and A Star Is Born should top the domestic box-office in the pair’s second weekend, October 12-14, while several new releases hit the multiplexes, led by Universal’s space epic, First Man.
Venom is on its way to adding an estimated $32 million to its total for the top spot, bringing its domestic tally to $139.25 million. The twist on a superhero tale has earned another $127 million internationally in its first seven days.
Tom Hardy stars as Eddie Brock, who becomes host to the alien entity known as Venom. Riz Ahmed and Michelle Williams also star in the Ruben Fleischer-helmed film. Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg, and Kelly Marcel wrote the script.
Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born is heading for a $28 million sophomore frame. The drama, which is also Cooper’s directorial debut, has amassed $66 million domestically in its first week, with another $14 million from overseas markets.
Universal’s First Man, which stars Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy, is coming in slightly below early forecasts, which had placed it in the $17 million to $20 million range, with $16 million from 3,640 domestic sites.
The picture was directed by “La La Land” helmer Damien Chazelle from Josh Singer’s script. “First Man” is a personal take on the story of Neil Armstrong’s moon landing, and has an 88% certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, along with a B+ CinemaScore.
If estimates hold, the film will be Gosling’s fifth-best opening, just behind 2013’s “Gangster Squad,” which opened to $17.07 million. Should “First Man” come in above that number, it’ll be topped by 2011 romcom — and Gosling’s first turn opposite “La La Land” co-star Emma Stone — “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” which debuted $19.1 million.
A kid-friendly Halloween-timed feature, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, spars with “First Man” for third place, aiming for $15.75 million from 3,521 cinemas. The Sony-Columbia sequel earned $4.85 million on Friday. The original “Goosebumps,” released in 2015, debuted to $23 million and went on to total $150 million worldwide.
Ari Sandel directed the film from a script by Rob Lieber. Both it and the previous film are based on stories from R. L. Stine’s children’s horror anthology series. It has a 43% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a B CinemaScore.
“Smallfoot” is looking to land at no. 5 in its third frame with about $9 million. The star-studded animated feature from Warner Bros. has garnered $48 million domestically since its Sept. 28 release and an additional $33 million from the foreign box office.
Bad Times at the El Royale should debut around $7.8 million from 2,808 North American locations, landing at no. 7. Fox’s neo-noir thriller starring Chris Hemsworth, Jon Hamm, Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo and Dakota Johnson is coming in on the lower end of early projections, which had predicted a debut of up to $12 million.
Drew Goddard (“Cabin in the Woods”) directed the picture from his own script. “Bad Times” has earned a 71% certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a B- CinemaScore.
Steve Carell and Timothee Chalamet’s Oscar hopeful drama, Beautiful Boy, is launching to $325,000 in a limited opening at four theaters, for an estimated per-screen average of $81,250.
The Amazon Studios film follows the true story of a father and son whose relationship is tested by the son’s meth addiction.
Belgian filmmaker Felix Van Groeningen’s English language debut, Beautiful Boy, is based on script he wrote with Luke Davies from David and Nic Sheff’s two memoirs.
The film has mixed critical response, with RT rating of 63%.
Excel’s Jane and Emma, which tells the story of a young girl who travels to meet Mormonism founder Joseph Smith and forms a bond with his wife, is opening at one theater in Salt Lake City, Utah to an estimated $160,000, easily the best per-screen average of the weekend.
Chantelle Squires directed the film from Melissa Leilani Larson’s script.