‘Venom’ to Win Second Weekend at the Box Office

Venom is set for a repeat victory at this weekend’s box office.

Venom is expected to earn $30-32 million in its second weekend at the box office, outpacing second place film A Star Is Born and newcomer First Man.

Added to last weekend’s $80 million record-breaking opening weekend and its weekday earnings, Venom‘s box office total will stand at just under $139 million.

Venom stars Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock, the journalist who bonds to an alien symbiote to become the Spider-Man villain and then antihero called Venom. Tough Venom’s origin is tied tightly to Spidey in the Marvel Comics universe, Sony is using Venom as a launchpad for its own universe of films focused on Spider-Man supporting characters such as Morbius, Black Cat, Silver Sable, and Nightwatch.

Venom is directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) and was made with a $100 million budget.

Venom has received mostly negative reviews from critics, managing only a 32 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, but fans have been much more positive on the film, awarding it an 88 percent audience score.

Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween opens as well this weekend and will land in fourth place. The film sees Jack Black return in the role of Goosebumps author RL Stine. It is expected to make about $16 million in its first weekend.

Bad Times at the El Royale, the new film from Cabin in the Woods director Drew Goddard, will open to about $10 million. Goddard is also slated to direct the X-Force movie featuring Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and Josh Brolin as Cable, assuming the pending Disney acquisition of 20th Century Fox does not derail those plans.

Goddard was also attached to direct Sony’s villainous Spider-Man spinoff Sinister Six at one point. While Sony’s sharing Spider-Man with Marvel and developing Venom seemed to show that plans had changed, Goddard believes there’s still a chance the film could be made.

Keep reading to see the full top ten at the box office this weekend.

1. Venom

Week Two
Friday: $9.5 million
Weekend: $31.7 million
Total: $138.8 million

Journalist Eddie Brock is trying to take down Carlton Drake, the notorious and brilliant founder of the Life Foundation. While investigating one of Drake’s experiments, Eddie’s body merges with the alien Venom — leaving him with superhuman strength and power. Twisted, dark and fueled by rage, Venom tries to control the new and dangerous abilities that Eddie finds so intoxicating.

Venom is directed by Ruben Fleischer, written by Scott Rosenberg, Jeff Pinkner, and Kelly Marcel, and stars Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, and Reid Scott.

2. A Star Is Born

Week Two
Friday: $8.9 million
Weekend: $29.6 million
Total: $95.7 million

Seasoned musician Jackson Maine discovers — and falls in love with — struggling artist Ally. She has just about given up on her dream to make it big as a singer until Jackson coaxes her into the spotlight. But even as Ally’s career takes off, the personal side of their relationship is breaking down, as Jackson fights an ongoing battle with his own internal demons.

A Star is Born is a remake of the 1937 film of the same name that is produced, directed by, and stars Bradley Cooper. Cooper also co-wrote the film’s screenplay with Eric Roth and Will Fetters. The film also stars Lady Gaga, Andrew Dice Clay, Dave Chappelle, and Sam Elliott, 

3. First Man

Opening Weekend
Friday: $5.9 million
Weekend: $16.8 million

On the heels of their six-time Academy Award-winning smash, La La Land, Oscar-winning director Damien Chazelle and star Ryan Gosling reteam for Universal Pictures’ First Man, the riveting story of NASA’s mission to land a man on the moon, focusing on Neil Armstrong and the years 1961-1969. A visceral, first-person account, based on the book by James R. Hansen, the movie will explore the sacrifices and the cost—on Armstrong and on the nation—of one of the most dangerous missions in history. Written by Academy Award winner Josh Singer (Spotlight), the drama is produced by Wyck Godfrey & Marty Bowen (The Twilight Saga, The Fault in Our Stars) through their Temple Hill Entertainment banner, alongside Chazelle and Gosling. Isaac Klausner (The Fault in Our Stars) executive produces. DreamWorks Pictures co-finances the film.

4. Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween

Opening Weekend
Friday: $4.9 million
Weekend: $15.7 million

While collecting junk one day, best friends Sonny and Sam meet Slappy, a mischievous talking dummy from an unpublished “Goosebumps” book by R.L. Stine. Hoping to start his own family, Slappy kidnaps Sonny’s mother and brings all of his ghoulish friends back to life — just in time for Halloween. As the sleepy town becomes overrun with monsters, witches and other mysterious creatures, Sonny joins forces with his sister, Sam and a kindly neighbor to save Sonny’s mom and foil Slappy’s plan.

Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween is directed by Ari Sandel and written by Rob Lieber from a story by Lieber and Darren Lemke. The film stars Wendi McLendon-Covey, Madison Iseman, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Caleel Harris, Chris Parnell, Ken Jeong, and Jack Black.

5. Smallfoot

Week Three
Friday: $2.1 million
Weekend: $8.8 million
Total: $57.1 million

Migo is a friendly Yeti whose world gets turned upside down when he discovers something that he didn’t know existed — a human. He soon faces banishment from his snowy home when the rest of the villagers refuse to believe his fantastic tale. Hoping to prove them wrong, Migo embarks on an epic journey to find the mysterious creature that can put him back in good graces with his simple community.

Smallfoot is based on the book Yeti Tracks by Sergio Pablos. The film is co-written and directed by Karey Kirkpatrick, and stars the voices of Channing Tatum, James Corden, Zendaya, Common, LeBron James, Gina Rodriguez, Danny DeVito, Yara Shahidi, Ely Henry, and Jimmy Tatro

6. Bad Times at the El Royale

Opening Weekend
Friday: $2.9 million
Weekend: $7.9 million

The El Royale is run-down hotel that sits on the border between California and Nevada. It soon becomes a seedy battleground when seven strangers — a cleric, a soul singer, a traveling salesman, two sisters, the manager and the mysterious Billy Lee — converge on a fateful night for one last shot at redemption before everything goes wrong.

Bad Times at the El Royale is written, directed, and produced by Drew Goddard. The film stars Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Cailee Spaeny, Lewis Pullman, Nick Offerman and Chris Hemsworth.

7. Night School

Week Three
Friday: $2.1 million
Weekend: $7.5 million
Total: $59.3 million

Teddy Walker is a successful salesman whose life takes an unexpected turn when he accidentally blows up his place of employment. Forced to attend night school to get his GED, Teddy soon finds himself dealing with a group of misfit students, his former high school nemesis and a feisty teacher who doesn’t think he’s too bright.

Night School is directed by Malcolm D. Lee and stars Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish, Rob Riggle, Taran Killam, Romany Malco, Keith David, and Loretta Devine.

8. The House With a Clock In Its Walls

Week Four
Friday: $1 million
Weekend: $4 million
Total: $62.3 million

Ten-year-old Lewis goes to live with his oddball uncle in a creaky old house that contains a mysterious ticktock noise. He soon learns that Uncle Jonathan and his feisty neighbor, Mrs. Zimmerman, are powerful practitioners of the magic arts. When Lewis accidentally awakens the dead, the town’s sleepy facade suddenly springs to life — revealing a secret and dangerous world of witches, warlocks and deadly curses.

Based on the 1973 novel by John Bellairs, The House With a Clock in its Walls is directed by Eli Roth and stars based on the 1973 novel of the same name by John Bellairs and stars Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Owen Vaccaro, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Sunny Suljic, and Kyle MacLachlan. 

9. The Hate U Give

Week Two
Friday: $455,000
Weekend: $1.5 million
Total: $2.2 million

Starr Carter is constantly switching between two worlds — the poor, mostly black neighborhood where she lives and the wealthy, mostly white prep school that she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is soon shattered when she witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend at the hands of a police officer. Facing pressure from all sides of the community, Starr must find her voice and decide to stand up for what’s right.

The Hate You Give is directed by George Tillman Jr. and written by Audrey Wells, based on the novel of the same name by Angie Thomas. The film stars Amandla Stenberg, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, KJ Apa, Algee Smith, Lamar Johnson, Issa Rae, Sabrina Carpenter, Common, and Anthony Mackie.

10. A Simple Favor

Week Five
Friday: $455,000
Weekend: $1.3 million
Total: $52 million

A Simple Favor, directed by Paul Feig, centers around Stephanie (Anna Kendrick), a mommy vlogger who seeks to uncover the truth behind her best friend Emily’s (Blake Lively) sudden disappearance from their small town.

Based on Darcey Bell’s 2017 novel of the same name, the film also stars  Henry Golding and Andrew Rannells.