The hype levels were high for Todd Phillips’ Joker as the film began its run in theaters this weekend, and predictably enough, this anticipation has translated into some serious box office numbers.
After beating Venom’s opening day October record on Friday, Phillips’ film has gone on to earn a domestic total of $93.5 million in its first three days. Not only does this figure smash the previous October record of just under $80.3 million, but it also gives Joker the biggest opening for any Warner Bros. film since 2017’s Justice League.
In DC terms, this gets the Joaquin Phoenix vehicle off to a significantly better start than both 2018’s Aquaman and the more recent Shazam!, which respectively managed to take in $67.9 million and $53.5 million domestically on their opening weekends.
Saddled with a $300 million budget, Justice League needed to do a lot better than its $93.8 million opening to be considered a commercial success, but given the estimated $55-70 million budget of Joker, it must be said that the Clown Prince of Crime’s solo flick is doing pretty well for itself. At the time of writing, the film’s worldwide total is estimated at $234 million, putting the movie on course to become one of the DC brand’s biggest global grossers to date.
No doubt all of the discourse surrounding Joker helped stir up some interest for the film’s first weekend. Having divided critics and started countless debates about the ethics of art, Phillips’ feature has become one of those movies that people feel the need to watch if only so they can have an opinion about it.
It’s been a long time since a DC pic has inspired this much discussion, but if you’re already keen to see what’s next from the brand, then look out for Birds of Prey when it arrives in theaters on February 7th, 2020.