News broke last night of ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Planet of the Apes’ alum Andy Serkis being hired to direct the sequel to 2018’s ‘Venom’ for Sony.
Read more‘Venom’ Creator Todd McFarlane Says Critics Just Didn’t Get the Movie; Believes ‘Spider-Man 3’ Got the Character Wrong
Despite terrible reviews (29% on Rotten Tomatoes), Sony’s“Venom” grossed more than $854 million worldwide. Now "Venom" creator Todd McFarlane is saying critics just didn't get it. Speaking to Yahoo, McFarlane, a world-re-known comic book creator responsible for Venom, and Spawn, believes that critics just needed to embrace their inner teenage fanboy.
Read moreDespite Bad Reviews 'Venom' Has Bite At Box-Office, $80M Opening Weekend; 'A Star Is Born' Opens With Impressive $41M
"Despite a rocky road to release the strange off-brand start to the Sony Marvel Spider-man Without Spider-Man Cinematic Universe know as Venom opened to an incredible $80M at #1. That smashes the previous October opening record holder Gravity which set the bar at $55.7M in 2013. It's weird to think a superhero/villain film could ever be considered an underdog story (especially this year) but Venom might have been it. Fans of the film were first put on edge when Sony finally decided that the film would get a PG-13 rating which angered star of the film Tom Hardy who's been vocal about the cuts from the R-rated version. Then there was the awful critics reviews who trashed the film as one of the worst of the year. So while the film opened to $10M on Thursday there was nothing there that guaranteed an ending like this with a potential massive drop-off by Sunday. But the monster just kept growing and now it's become yet another huge success for the superhero genre."
1. Venom — Sony — $80,030,000
2. A Star is Born —Warner Bros. — $41,250,000
3. Smallfoot —Warner Bros.— $14,900,000
4. Night School — Uni. — $12,275,000
5. The House With A Clock In Its Walls — Uni. — $7,295,000
6. A Simple Favor — Lionsgate — $3,435,000
7. The Nun— Warner Bros. — $2,610,000
8. Hell Fest — LGF — $2,075,000 ($8,864,476)
9. Crazy Rich Asians — WB — $2,060,000
10. The Predator — Fox — $900,000
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“Venom" is a time-capsule-worthy bomb [Capsule Review]
I don't really want to go too much into detail about Ruben Fleischer's "Venom" because there are far worthier films that I need to write about today but, suffice to say, it's a total bomb. At some point during yesterday's press/audience screening the crowd was laughing at scenes that, I'm pretty sure of it, the filmmakers didn't intend to portray as comedic. This is a visually dull film, think back on Marvel films circa 2004 ("The Punisher" etc.) ,but more importantly, this is a project that seems to have died in the editing room.
Read moreVenom PG-13 backlash: Tom Hardy says 'My favourite 40 minutes of Venom were cut from the film'
I will be watching Ruben Fleischer's "Venom" on Wednesday, but that PG-13 rating hangs over it like inescapable roadkill. There's no doubt in my mind that the film deserved an R, an adaptation of Venom should not be rated PG-13. It does immense disservice to the comic book and its fans. The reason for this rating, as reported by Variety, was about the possible box-office damage that could come with an R-rated comic book flick. Sony did not go the “Logan” and “Deadpool” route here. They are playing it safe, folks. Fuck 'em.
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