Universal Pictures believes that First Man may be one of those movies which could net a number of big award nominations, but they hope for a big box office too. While the Ryan Gosling-starring film has received praise from critics, it didn’t really provide the type of numbers that the studio was hoping for. Then again, it is going up against A Star Is Born and Venom, which has already broken all kinds of box office records.
In First Man , Ryan Gosling stars as Neil Armstrong and the movie details everything leading up to his moment as the first person to walk on the moon. There has been a lot of award buzz for it and Universal was really hoping that it would bring in money in its opening weekend and overall.
Unfortunately, things aren’t looking so earth-shattering as First Man earned $5.9 million in its first day in theaters, according to Box Office Mojo . That put it in third place and has it on track to make an estimated opening weekend of just $16.8 million, which is below studio expectations.
The box office numbers don’t mean that First Man is a bad film, it’s just that it was released at a bad time and up against some strong competition.
Forbes reported that Venom had a massive drop of 70 percent on its second Friday, but that didn’t stop it from crossing the $300 million mark worldwide. If all holds steady throughout the weekend, Venom is expected to finish with around $30 million at the domestic box office.
Coming in right behind it is A Star Is Born which stars Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in another film generating a lot of Oscar buzz. Its second Friday scored $8.5 million, which has it on track to end the weekend with an estimated $28 million.
Three new movies opened in theaters this weekend and all of them couldn’t surpass Venom or A Star Is Born on Friday night. Here are the numbers for Friday, October 12, 2018.
1. Venom – $9.785 million
2. A Star Is Born – $8.5 million
3. First Man – $5.86 million
4. Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween – $4.85 million
5. Bad Times At The El Royale – $2.825 million
None of those numbers are incredibly impressive, but at this time of year, they’re quite common. Venom has received a ton of criticism and has plenty of negative reviews, but it’s continuing to earn at the box office. A Star Is Born is over $88 million worldwide and has its focus more on the awards. First Man ? Well, there were high hopes for awards and a big take from theaters, but so far, it’s falling short in the latter.
