Wow. Let me be the first to say this. Wow.

When the negative review started pouring in about Venom, I expected this to be kind of a flop. I even laughed at expectations that it would break $65 million in its opening weekend. This was a film that absolutely no one was asking for, and one that almost seems to spit in the face of fans of the character (especially if you’re as passionate about the character as our own Nick Doll, who tore the film a new one in his “double take” review).

I personally would have been surprised if this broke $30 million. But now, it looks like it may be on track to do exactly what Sony was hoping, or even more. According to Deadline, the film has taken in $10 million in Thursday preview screenings. For comparison, Doctor Strange took in $9.4 million in its Thursday opening and then went on to take in $85 million for the whole weekend.

However, it’s worth noting that Doctor Strange was a movie that was incredibly well-received by critics and fans alike, and as of right now, many critics aren’t really recommending this one (it currently sits at 29% on Rotten Tomatoes). LRM‘s Fox Troilo thinks the hate for the film is a little out of control, and gave the film a passable grade of a B- — so you can read both his and Nick’s reviews and decide where you think you’ll fall. So with this reception in mind, it’s hard to say whether or not the performance will last through the weekend, especially if word of mouth works against the movie.

We’ll have to keep a close eye on this one and see what its trend is as the weekend progresses. This could be a big hit for Sony, and for all we know, fans may actually grow to like the movie. But if not, we’ll see if it’ll have any effect on the overall box office.

But what do you think of this? Are you surprised by its performance so far? Let us know down below!

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SOURCE: Deadline