At one point in time, fans and critics were very hesitant to hear that a Joker movie was being made and starring Joaquin Phoenix. Fast forward to now, and the Joker movie is the #1 movie at the box office, and it’s set a box office record for October as a result.
Over the course of its first three days at the domestic box office, the film earned around $93.5 million dollars. The final numbers might even put it higher than that all told.
This means that it’s the biggest opening ever in October, beating out the previous winner in Venom from last year by about $13 million dollars. Worldwide the film has earned $234 million, which is well above early estimates for the piece.
The massive numbers once again prove that the critical take on certain films won’t dissuade moviegoers from trying it out. After the debut at the Venice Film Festival, Joker was getting rave reviews, and early buzz for Joaquin Phoenix as Joker/Arthur Fleck was bubbling.
Then, when the “main media” got a look at the film, the takes were much more divisive. Stating that the movie “glorified violence” and asked you to “sympathize” with Fleck during his descent into madness.
Despite all that controversy, Joker is a hit, and it bodes well for not just DC Comics movies going forward (of which Joker premiered better than both Shazam and Aquaman), but also for the next DC Comics film in Birds of Prey, which is also R-Rated.
