For the fourth year on the trot, the highest-grossing Warner Bros. production hails from DC Films.
After Batman V Superman and Wonder Woman delivered the one-two punch in 2016 and 2017, respectively, and James Wan’s standalone Aquaman movie notched over $1 billion late last year, the R-rated Joker spinoff has now carried the trend into 2019.
On the heels of its wildly successful second weekend, the Todd Phillips drama has rocketed past $500 million at the global box office, leaving other Warner Bros. projects like Shazam ($364M) and It: Chapter Two ($445M) in the dust. Granted, it should be noted that the latter movie still holds a higher domestic tally – $207M to Joker‘s $192M – but it’s nigh on certain that the Clown Prince of Crime will leapfrog Pennywise before all is said and done.
Since its October 4th debut, Joker has not only notched Warner’s biggest domestic debut since 2017’s Wonder Woman, but it also set a new box office record for the month of October, as moviegoers flocked to see what all the fuss was about. That trend will no doubt continue as word begins to spread, because while Joker has proven somewhat divisive among its viewers – some love it; others are indifferent – people tend to be in agreement in saying that Warner’s jet-black offshoot really ought to be seen on the biggest screen you can find. Even if it’s just for Joaquin Phoenix’s at-times engrossing performance.
At $544.7 million and climbing, the glass-half-full analysts are predicting a final cume in excess of $1 billion worldwide, though we imagine Arthur Fleck will fall just short of that milestone. Nevertheless, Joker has blown past all expectations on its journey to the box office throne, and we fully expect Gotham’s Clown Prince to reign for some time yet.