‘Venom’ sets October record with $80.3 million debut

Scathing critical reviews have little bearing on film performance these days: Movies with poor Rotten Tomatoes scores have found major success at the box office.

In the latest example,

Sony Pictures’ “Venom” bested critical darling “A Star Is Born” for the top box-office spot over the weekend, debuting in first place in North America with $80.3 million and topping the previous October opening weekend record by more than $20 million, according to figures

from measurement firm comscore. The previous record holder, the sci-fi thriller “Gravity,” opened with $55.7 million in 2013.

The Marvel film “Venom,” which cost an estimated $100 million to produce, opened above analysts’ predictions of $55 million to $70 million. In the origin story, after an encounter with a parasitic alien symbiote, journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) becomes the titular villain, a menacing beast and frequent nemesis of Spider-man.

Despite a positive

B-plus audience rating on Cinemascore, the picture earned negative reviews from critics, with a 32 percent “rotten” score on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, reflecting the recent trend of such movies as “The Nun,” “The Predator” and “Night School,” which all had rotten scores but proved successful at the box office.

In second place, Warner Bros.’ “A Star Is Born,” already being floated as a best picture front-runner, debuted with $42.9 million (special event advance screenings pushed it to $44.3 million), above analysts’ predictions of $30 million to $35 million.

This is the fourth iteration of the classic Hollywood story (Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson starred in the 1976 version). The new “Star Is Born” features Bradley Cooper (who also directs and co-wrote the screenplay) as a fading rock star who discovers and falls in love with a talented young singer-songwriter (Lady Gaga). It earned positive reviews from audiences and critics, with an A on Cinemascore and a 91 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

In third place, Warner Bros.’ “Smallfoot,” in its second weekend, added $14.4 million.

Universal’s “Night School,” also in its second weekend, came in fourth, adding $12.5 million.

Rounding out the top five, Universal’s “The House With a Clock in Its Walls,” in its third weekend, earned $7.3 million.