‘First Man’ Is No Match for ‘Venom’ and ‘A Star Is Born’

Not even Ryan Gosling’s Neil Armstrong could reach the heights of Tom Hardy and Lady Gaga.

Universal’s “First Man,” director Damien Chazelle’s first movie since “La La Land,” took in a soft $16.5 million domestically during its opening weekend. Critics mostly loved this film, which features an ensemble of well-known actors and has been positioned as an Oscar contender, but the masses were less impressed. “First Man” had a modest audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and ticket buyers gave it a B-plus grade in CinemaScore exit polls. The movie follows Armstrong in the years leading up to the 1969 moon landing, with Claire Foy as Armstrong’s first wife, Janet Shearon, and Corey Stoll as Buzz Aldrin.

Universal Pictures had hoped “First Man,” which cost about $60 million to make and tens of millions more to market, would mirror the performance of “Argo,” the 2013 Oscar winner for best picture. “Argo” arrived to $19.5 million in opening-weekend ticket sales ($21.4 million after adjusting for inflation), earned an A-plus CinemaScore and went on to generate an adjusted $254 million worldwide.

“First Man” didn’t come close to Sony’s “Venom,” which finished in first place at the box office with an estimated weekend gross of $35.7 million, bringing its estimated domestic total to $142.8 million. “Venom” also brought in a significant amount overseas, earning $69.7 million from international markets this weekend, according to the studio, which says that the film’s worldwide total is now $378.1 million. Hardy’s take on the fanged Marvel anti-hero surpassed box-office analysts’ expectations when it opened last weekend.

“A Star is Born,” with Lady Gaga as a budding singer and Bradley Cooper as her mentor and lover (and the film’s director), has followed a similar path, beating expectations in week one and staying strong in week two. The Warner Bros. film grossed about $28 million domestically, according to comScore, which compiles box-office data, bringing it to an estimated North American total of $94.2 million.

Sony’s semi-scary family film “Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween,” which opened this weekend, brought in about $16.2 million domestically — just a bit less than “First Man.” That lands it in fourth place overall, but lagging behind the performance of its predecessor. The first “Goosebumps” arrived to $23.6 million in 2015. At the same time, “Haunted Halloween” reflects the aggressive manner in which Sony controls costs: The sequel cost about $35 million to make, compared with $58 million for the first installment.

Another just-opened film, “Bad Times at the El Royale,” was a flop for 20th Century Fox. Writer and director Drew Goddard’s neo-noir thriller cost about $30 million to make, not including marketing. It brought in around $7.2 million domestically during its opening weekend, earning it seventh place overall — not a comfortable position for its all-star cast, which includes Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson and Jon Hamm.