For the new Venom movie, this week didn’t get off the most promising of starts, with the film’s first reactions drawing comparisons to such infamous comic book flicks as Catwoman and Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four. But while the critics weren’t too pleased with Eddie Brock’s first standalone movie, it looks like your average viewer is finding a lot more to enjoy in the Ruben Fleischer-helmed feature.
Whereas Venom currently holds a generous audience approval rating of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film’s CinemaScore stands at B+, putting this symbiote spectacle on the same level as the character’s previous big screen outing, Spider-Man 3, not to mention the more recent comic book adaptations The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Justice League and Suicide Squad. Admittedly, this isn’t the best company to be in, but it’s still a whole lot better than the C- that Fantastic Four got, or even the B attained by Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
What’s more, Venom isn’t doing too badly at the box office either, boasting a record-breaking first night that reportedly has the film on course to rake in $57 to $65 million stateside on this opening weekend. With that in mind, Venom could well achieve what Spider-Man 3, Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Justice League couldn’t, and land a sequel. Lord knows, Sony are clearly keen to get a second movie made, between the pic’s post-credits teaser, Tom Hardy being signed on for two more films, and the studio’s stated intentions to build its own cinematic universe in the vein of the MCU.
We’ll no doubt be hearing further news on the future of Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters as Venom continues its run in cinemas, so stay tuned.