‘Venom’ Voted Atom Tickets’ Most Anticipated Movie of the Fall

A survey of Atom Ticket users ranked Sony Pictures’ Venom as the most anticipated movie of the fall, CNBC reports.

The movie ticket app gives Venom that distinction after an August survey hosted by online ticket retailer Fandango ranked the movie third on its Fall’s Most Anticipated Movies list.

There Venom came in just behind Warner Bros.’ Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and Fox’s Bohemian Rhapsody, and ahead of Disney’s animated Ralph Breaks the Internet and Warner Bros.’ strong awards contender A Star is Born.

Alisha Grauso, editorial lead at Atom Tickets, said fans are hoping to see the standalone redeem the character after a botched effort in 2007’s Spider-Man 3, where the fan-favorite villain made his live-action debut. Grauso said star Tom Hardy is a major draw after his turn as another beloved comic book villain in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises, where he played famed Batman enemy Bane.

According to Grauso, “even fans who have reservations about the movie itself are eager to see what Hardy brings to the role.”

Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com, said it’s hard to predict how Venom will fare against A Star is Born — also out Oct. 5 — and the much buzzed-about Halloween, which opens Oct. 19. Robbins predicts audience turnout for the Spider-Man-less solo will be dependent on reviews.

“Venom is just a really, really popular villain in the overall world of comic books and there are a lot of diehard fans that really want to see a faithful version of this character in a movie,” Robbins said. “I think that’s driving a lot of the excitement for it leading into the release.”

If Venom proves successful in October — a month that usually doesn’t see big budget superhero releases — the month could prove fruitful for both Venom and future comic book movies, according to comScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian.

“Studios are definitely thinking outside of the box and not having any constraints on the calendar,” he said. “October could be yet another frontier for superhero movies to conquer.”

Early tracking pegs Venom at an opening weekend in the neighborhood of $60 million — $70 million, numbers that would topple the $55.8 million earned by 2013’s Sandra Bullock and George Clooney-led Gravity, which holds the best-ever October debut.

Venom, starring Tom Hardy, Riz Ahmed, and Michelle Williams, opens October 5. UPDATE: Atom Ticket / Amazon users can save $5 on a Venom ticket for a limited time.