UPDATE: Per final figures, “Joker” has earned $96 million domestically in its opening weekend, meaning that the “what if” scenario described below did actually occur. These are wild times.
This weekend’s box office breakdown comes with a bit of a warning — “Joker” discussion forthcoming. Lots and lots of “Joker” talk. But luckily, none of it about any of the previous weeks’ controversies. This is purely about the numbers. And holy cow, Batman, these are some ridiculous box office numbers.
In its opening weekend, “Joker” exceeded all previous expectations and earned approximately $93.5 million domestically. This is an October record for any film, handily beating the previous record set by “Venom” in 2018 with $80.1 million. And the other major record shattered is the October global opening with “Joker” laughing all the way to the bank, earning an estimated $234 million, once again besting “Venom” and its $207.4 million total.
READ MORE: Michael Moore Calls ‘Joker’ An “Important Movie For An Important Time”
Oh yeah, and did I mention that these records were set by a film that is a hard R-rated, dark film that has been previously linked to possible threats of violence at movie theaters? Warner Bros. can’t possibly be happier than the studio is right now looking at these receipts. And Todd Phillips is likely just a monster to talk to right now (which after the shitstorm that has followed him the last couple of weeks, he is probably feeling a bit validated). Also of note, despite a Rotten Tomatoes score that has dropped quite a bit in the last week after non-festival critics saw the film (“Joker” currently stands at 69% on Rotten Tomatoes), the audiences seem to be fans, with the comic book movie receiving a B+ CinemaScore, indicating that word-of-mouth is likely going to be strong.
Now, it’s important to understand that the $93.5 million and $234 million numbers are purely estimations, with the studio projecting what Sunday is likely going to entail. However, with the way the film has already shattered projections, don’t be surprised if “Joker” gets closer to $95 million domestically when the dust settles tomorrow. And if “Joker” does reach only $400,000 more than it current estimates, then WB is going to find that the studio’s R-rated comic book film starring Joaquin Phoenix will have a bigger opening than “Justice League” ($93.8 million), and that film starred Ben Affleck, Jason Momoa, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, and Ezra Miller playing four of the biggest superheroes on the face of the planet.
Seriously, think about that for a second. The R-rated, sub-$100 million budgeted “Joker” will likely outgross (both opening weekend and the final worldwide totals) WB’s PG-13 answer to “The Avengers.” This is as if that rumored Noah Hawley-directed “Doctor Doom” film somehow opened bigger than ‘Avengers.’ That just doesn’t make sense. But hey, this is what happens when WB makes bold moves and goes with what makes a good film versus trying to ape what Marvel Studios has already done.
To put the domestic opening in perspective even more, keep in mind that “Joker” currently has destroyed the recent debuts of DC films like “Aquaman” ($68 million) and “Shazam!” ($54 million), while falling merely $10 million short of “Wonder Woman” ($103 million). All of those films have more family-friendly stories and have budgets that are well, well above “Joker.” As for Marvel Studios films, “Joker” finds itself besting recent debuts such as “Spider-Man: Far From Home” ($92.6 million), “Doctor Strange” ($85 million), and “Ant-Man and the Wasp” ($75.8 million). Perhaps the most startling number of them all is the fact that if Sunday does exceed expectations, “Joker” could beat the opening weekends of “Guardians of the Galaxy” ($94 million) and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” ($95 million).
As for R-rated films, in general, “Joker” now sits with the #4 opening of all time, beating the likes of “The Matrix Reloaded” ($92 million) and the recent “It: Chapter Two” ($91 million). And yes, it topped R-rated comic book film “Logan,” with its $88 million opening. The only R-rated films to have a higher opening are “Deadpool” ($132 million), “Deadpool 2” ($126 million), and “It: Chapter One” ($123 million).
Long story short, “Joker’s” debut is nothing short of extraordinary, given every bit of controversy and hype that has preceded it. If this was any other film, we’d be talking franchise possibilities, but with Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix seemingly squashing that idea, perhaps this is just a one-and-done situation. However, with a bit of creativity, how about WB just use this to start their Black Label (the current name for Mature DC Comics) universe? There’s no denying that Phillips has created a great universe to play in, so let’s see other filmmakers use that foundation to explore dark superhero films.
Surprisingly, “Joker” isn’t the only news of the weekend. As much as I could sit here and type another 800 words about the film, there were other projects at cinemas that are worthy of a quick shout-out.
The Bollywood action film “War” opened in only 305 locations this weekend and earned an incredible $2.1 million domestically, good for #9. This would be strong numbers for any film produced in Hollywood, let alone an Indian film debuting in the US. Then again, “War” previously opened in its home country earlier in the week and broke records there, so perhaps this is the ripple effect of Bollywood fans wanting to see what all the hype is about.
As for other limited-run films, such as Pedro Almodovar’s “Pain & Glory” and Noah Hawley’s “Lucy in the Sky,” the box office totals paint a cautionary picture about how fall film festivals can give and take away buzz.
“Pain & Glory” is riding high on an incredible festival run, where critics have hailed it as one of Almodovar’s best films to date. That buzz led to the film debuting in only 4 theaters and earning a Per-Theater-Average (PTA) of $40,022. That’s one of the best debuts of the year for any limited release, indicating that “Pain & Glory” could be a surprise fall hit for Sony Pictures Classics.
On the other hand, Fox Searchlight probably hoped for a lot better debut of “Lucy in the Sky,” as Natalie Portman’s latest crashed and burned in its debut. The psychological drama about a mentally ill astronaut earned only $55,000 in 37 theaters this weekend. No, that’s not the PTA. That’s the total for the weekend. Per-Theater-Average for the film came in at $1,486. That’s just terrible. No other way to put it. But what do you expect when you’re highly-anticipated film gets hammered by critics in its festival debut? “Lucy in the Sky” currently sits at a 27% Rotten Tomatoes score. Ouch.
This is yet another disappointment for Natalie Portman, who, for the second year in a row, has seen her hyped Oscar contender performance crater at the box office. Last year, “Vox Lux” was coming into the fall film festival circuit with a lot of hype but ended up falling short of expectations with critics and earned a domestical cume of only $727,119 during its run at the box office.
Next weekend, studios are once again clogging the multiplex with new debuts, as the animated ‘Addams Family’ film debuts alongside Ang Lee’s action film “Gemini Man” and the rom-com “Jexi.” Let’s be real, it’s going to be difficult for any of those films to compete with “Joker’s” second weekend.
Here’s the domestic top 10 for October 4 to October 6:
1. Joker – $93.5M (Debut)
2. Abominable – $12M ($38M Overall)
3. Downton Abbey – $8M ($74M)
4. Hustlers – $6.3M ($91M)
5. It: Chapter Two – $5.4M ($202M)
6. Ad Astra – $4.6M ($44M)
7. Judy – $4.4M ($9M)
8. Rambo: Last Blood – $3.6M ($40M)
9. War – $2.1M (Debut)
10. Good Boys – $900,000 ($82M)