Superhero, or in this case, anti-hero fatigue is a myth as Sony’s Venom just silenced its critics. The film devoured a massive $80 million from 4,250 theaters in its domestic opening, easily the best showing ever for an October title.

Across the pond, Venom soared to $125.2 million from 58 markets for a global bow of $205.2 million.

The $100 million movie is an enormous victory for Sony’s film studio, led by Tom Rothman, as it tries to build a stable of superhero pics beyond the marquee Spider-Man movies. Sony is looking for this film to kick-start a new shared universe built around supporting and villainous Spider-Man characters such as Morbius and Kraven.

Directed by Ruben Fleischer, nearly half Venom’s audience was under the age of 25, while nearly 70 percent was male.

Also debuting this weekend, Warner Bros. A Star is Born came in ahead of expectations, collecting $42.6 million domestically from 3,686 cinemas. Globally, the musical-romantic drama started off with a more modest $14 million from its first 31 territories, including most European markets, for a worldwide launch of $56.6 million.

Clearly unlike Venom, A Star Is Born relied heavily on women and older moviegoers. More than 85 percent of the audience was over the age of 25, while women made up 66 percent of ticket buyers.

The combined power of the two very distinct films drove total North American revenue to an all-time high for the month of October, or more than $170 million. And, until now, the top October opening had belonged to Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity, which blasted off with $55.7 million in 2013, not adjusted for inflation.