Joker Tops Deadpool As Highest Grossing R-Rated Movie Ever

It’s safe to say Warner Bros. are pleased with Joker. Despite their initial misgivings about the project, going so far as to limit its budget in an attempt to dissuade the creators, it’s gone on to wild success. How wild? Well, it was made for around $70 million and as of today has grossed a whopping $788.1 million at the global box office. It’s still raking it in, too, and will break the $800 million marker over this weekend. Furthermore, there’s still an outside chance it could join the billion-dollar club by the end of the year.

That haul means that it’s taken the crown previously held by Deadpool 2, which made $785 million globally last year (with the original Deadpool only slightly behind in third at $783 million). As is traditional when these records are broken, the filmmaker knocked off the perch acknowledges their competitor with an image and as this is the R-rated movie competition and the loser is Ryan Reynolds…well, it’s not your usual classy tribute.

See for yourself below:

You can also see Joker director Todd Phillips’ response in the gallery, who marked the occasion by saying:

“Wow!! Thanks to my wonderful cast & crew and of course, the fans from around the world— for seeing through all the “noise” and SHOWING UP (some more than once)! We are super proud of the film and all your wonderful messages make it that much more special. #Joker worldwide.”

He’s got a point about the “noise.” The release of Joker saw a lot of opinion pieces by people who seemed to be judging a film that only existed in their imaginations. They warned that it’d cause a wave of mass shootings and act as a kind of ‘incel’ lightning rod. Said writers all looked pretty silly when the final product turned out to be a progressive movie about class war, the effects of austerity politics and the importance of mental health care funding.

In any case, this record-breaking success is sure to influence the future direction of Warner Bros. when it comes to allowing directors to put their own unique spin on existing properties. Just this week, we heard that they’re toying with the idea of an All-Star Superman adaptation and it seems that they’re eager to make a standalone Krypton movie, too. And, of course, there’s obviously a sequel to Joker on the way as well.