Critically detested Venom has already set a box office record

No Spider-Man? No problem.

Venom, Sony's new comic book film about the popular Spider-Man villain (but which does not actually have Spider-Man in it), is off to a great start at the box office, scoring $10 million in Thursday night previews, per Deadline. This is the best preview night of any October release of all time. To be fair, tentpole blockbusters like these typically don't come out in October, so there wasn't a tremendous amount of competition; the previous record-holder was 2007's Paranormal Activity, which grossed $8 million in previews.

Still, Sony is certainly thrilled with the result, as it sets Venom on a path to gross upwards of $60 million this weekend. Officially, the studio is projecting $55 million, but Deadline expects it to go above $60 million. If it gets over $55 million, that would be the best October opening weekend of all time, beating Gravity's $55.7 million.

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The projections would probably be even higher if Venom's reviews weren't so negative, though. The film holds a toxic 30 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it a harder sell to audiences who weren't going to see it no matter what the critics had to say; oftentimes, a highly-anticipated film with negative reviews will have a massive opening night but a less impressive Saturday and Sunday, as the fans who were already in the bag turn out as early as possible and everyone else stays home. Then again, the audience rating for Venom on Rotten Tomatoes is much higher at 88 percent, so might this be another case of moviegoers warmly embracing a film that critics panned?

Considering Venom is meant to launch a whole new universe of films, Sony can only hope.