A star is born, indeed, and his name is Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), a.k.a the Venom Symbiote, a.k.a Sony and Marvel's alien antihero who a record-breaking amount of people just saw eat a thug's head off his body. Director Ruben Fleischer's Venom hauled in $80 million in its opening weekend, easily becoming the highest-grossing October debut of all time. In the words of the sticky big guy himself, "The way I see it, we can do whatever we want."

The massive take puts Venom ahead of the previous October record-holder, director Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity, which opened to $55.7 million in 2013. Venom premiered on 4,250 screens and was bolstered by an absolutely bonkers $10 million in Thursday night previews. Venom's opening not only sticks it firmly atop the October box office but slots it into the seventh highest opening of the year, right above July's Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Meanwhile, the actual A Star Is Born is rocking out pretty darn hard as well. Bradley Cooper's soul-stirring directorial premiered above expectations with $41.2 million. Cooper himself stars as an aging country-rocker alongside an absolutely dynamite Lady Gaga, who puts in one heck of an Oscar-worthy performance. A Star Is Born blasted out of festival season to rave reviews and amp feedback-like buzz, and audiences seem to agree; the R-rated drama has an A CinemaScore.

Elsewhere, George Tillman Jr.'s The Hate U Give—another film with its eyes set firmly on Oscar night, adapted from Angie Thomas' novel—opened at the specialty box office, taking in $500,000 on 36 screens.

Check out the weekend's top 10 estimates below, and be back here next week to see if First Man can land better than Bad Times at the El Royale.

Rank

Title

Weekend

Total

1.

Venom

$80,030,000

$80,030,000

2.

A Star Is Born

$41,250,000

$42,600,000

3.

Smallfoot

$14,900,000

$42,760,945

4.

Night School

$12,275,000

$46,750,355

5.

The House With a Clock In Its Walls 

$7,295,000

$55,050,560

6.

A Simple Favor

$3,435,000

$49,014,356

7.

The Nun

$2,610,000

$113,367,310

8.

Hell Fest 

$2,075,000

$8,864,476

9.

Crazy Rich Asians

$2,060,000

$169,134,942

10.

The Predator 

$900,000

$49,985,889

lady-gaga-bradley-cooper-a-star-is-born
Image via Warner Bros.
smallfoot-director-karey-kirkpatrick-interview
Image via Warner Bros.
tiffany-haddish-night-school-image
Image via Universal Pictures