'Venom' sets October record with US$80M; 'Star Is Born' soars

NEW YORK -- The Sony comic-book movie "Venom" has shrugged off bad reviews to shatter the October box-office record with a US$80 million debut, while Bradley Cooper's "A Star Is Born" soared to $42.6 million.

According to estimates Sunday, the two very different films fueled an unusually robust October weekend at the North American box office. Despite a 32 per cent "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the anti-hero "Spider-Man" spinoff "Venom" opened with $205.2 million globally.

The previous best October opening was $55.7 million for "Gravity" in 2013.

Cooper's "A Star Is Born" remake, also starring Lady Gaga, has been hailed by critics and pegged as an Oscar front-runner. It drew an audience that was 66 per cent female and 68 per cent older than 35.

Let's block ads! (Why?)