Box Office: ‘Joker’ Tops $735 Million To Become One Of The Most Profitable Comic Book Movies Ever – Forbes

In terms of budget versus global grosses, Joker is more profitable than any “big” comic book movie aside from Deadpool, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Mask.

Joker earned another $29.2 million (-47%) in its third weekend of domestic release, bringing its cume up to $247.229 million. It has continued to crush it overseas, earning $77 million overseas (-37%) and bringing its overseas total to $490 million and its global cume to $737.5 million in just under three weeks. That puts it past It ($700 million) among R-rated films and past Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($714 million) among comic book flicks. And, with a total past Gravity ($723 million in 2013), it is the second-biggest September/October release of all time behind Venom ($854 million). It is now behind just The Matrix Reloaded ($742 million), Deadpool ($783 million) and Deadpool 2 ($785 million, counting Once Upon A Deadpool) among R-rated grossers.

The Todd Phillips film has continued to play as the big “adult-skewing” event movie of the moment as well as the big franchise flick and (by default) the go-to scary movie of the season. Beyond just the appeal of the character, the most popular fictional villain since Judas, the situation is one where folks who generally only sample conventional commercial studio fare are finding Joker to be unlike what they usually get at the multiplex. Moreover, those scared off in the early days, either by fearmongering about in-theater violence or concerns about the film’s content, are showing up now that the word is out that it’s just a movie and that, in terms of onscreen content, its bark is worse than its bite.

Once it passes $758 million global, it’ll pass Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw as the year’s biggest non-Disney/Marvel release, although the Dwayne Johnson/Jason Statham flick will retain the “biggest movie not based on a comic book” milestone. Both benchmarks will likely only be challenged by Sony’s Jumanji: The Next Level when it opens on December 13. That’s no guarantee, especially if Joker magically snags a Chinese release date. This is total speculation, but the R-rated movie doesn’t contain that much violence, features no sex or nudity and features a “the rich people are making the rest of us worse off” message that would arguably appeal to a communist country. I wouldn’t be shocked if Warner Bros. at least makes a play for China.

Besides, I’ve only seen Joker once, but I don’t recall any scenes of Arthur Fleck fighting Bruce Lee to a standstill. Like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which has earned around $370 million worldwide on a $90 million budget, Joker doesn’t remotely need China to be quite profitable. It is already one of the most profitable “big” comic book movies of all time, in term of budget versus final gross. The most profitable “big” comic book movies are Venom ($854 million on a $90 million budget), Batman ($411 million/$35 million), Joker ($737 million/$60 million), Deadpool ($783 million/$58 million), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ($200 million/$13.5 million) and The Mask ($350 million/$23 million). New Line Cinema’s early-90’s hits (The Mask and TMNT) may be out of reach.

If it continues to play as it has, even a 33.4/66.5 split from a $300 million domestic cume gets it to $898.2 million. That’s speculation, but the Joaquin Phoenix drama has upended expectations on a daily basis since opening three weeks ago. It’s ironic that this dark, violent, kid-unfriendly brood-fest, everything we said DC Films shouldn’t do, has result in strong reviews, ridiculous box office and possible Oscar glory as an old-school tentpole for a studio otherwise having a bumpy year. Joker joins Aquaman, Shazam and Wonder Woman as proof that DC Films doesn’t need The Batman. That’s good news for the Matt Reeves flick, as Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader is now only responsible for saving Gotham City, rather than the whole DC cinematic universe.

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