Joker defied its hard R-Rating & security concerns to score the largest October opening of all time with $96.2 million. It was reported initially that the gross was about $93.5 million but actuals pushed the total higher. The opening tops the $80.2 million opening of last year’s Venom, which previously held the October record. Joker’s performance is also the fourth largest domestic opening ever for an R-rated film and comes up just shy of becoming only the fourth R-rated film to ever open with $100+ million. Heading into the weekend the film had already broken a record, becoming the widest October opening ever, playing in 4,374 locations and on Thursday night it delivered an October record for preview grosses, bringing in $13.3 million.
The opening also breaks records for the stars in front and behind the camera. For director Todd Phillips, the opening tops his previous best opening of $85.9 million for The Hangover 2 and it’s also an opening weekend record opening for its star, Joaquin Phoenix, whose previous best was the $60.1 million opening of Signs in 2002. Even Robert De Niro scores a career-best domestic box opening with this film, topping the $47.6 million of Shark Tale.
The real question now is: where does it go from here? The film earned a “B+” CinemaScore which is solid for a film of this nature. Audiences love it more than critics (69% on Rotten Tomatoes vs. a 90% audience score on the site) & it currently has a 9.0/10 on IMDB. Some might say this is full fanboy push & there could be truth to that but I think we would’ve seen more erosion as the film played this weekend if it was fanboy frontloaded. Joker has to gain the attention of those who may have avoided it because of the polarizing critical response or because of all the reports of security concerns at theaters. This will definitely be one to watch as it enters its second weekend. The film even killed it overseas with an opening of $140.5 million from 73 markets. Not bad for a film with a reported budget of $60 million budget.
Falling to second is Abominable with $11.9 million. The film dipped 42.2% which is a bit hefty for a children’s film with solid reviews but I wonder if families stayed away from the movies this weekend due to the security issues with Joker. Abominable has a domestic of $37.7 million which is well off from its $75 million budget so it’s going to have to get bailed out a bit from overseas grosses. Internationally, the film opened in China this weekend with $11.2 million, contributing to a $24.6 million international performance from 44 overall markets and an overseas gross that now totals $38.5 million and a global take totaling $76.3 million.
Falling to third is Downton Abbey with $7.9 million. Downton Abbey dropped 44.3% this weekend which is a better hold than it had last week. Downton Abbey has benefitted from solid weekday grosses since it opened which seems to be when repeat viewings are happening with women and older audiences. Downton Abbey has grossed $73.6 million to date at the domestic box office and while $100 million is likely out of play on the domestic front for the $20 million film, internationally, the movie added $6.6 million this weekend, pushing its overseas gross to $61.8 million for a global total topping $135 million.
Maintaining a place in the top five is Hustlers which grossed $6.3 million. The film dipped 43.3% this weekend and has managed to keep its drops beneath 50% since opening four weeks ago. Hustlers has now grossed $91.4 million and it’s only days away from topping the $94 million gross of Maid In Manhattan to become Jennifer Lopez’s highest-grossing live-action film and it just needs another weekend or so to join the $100 million club. I don’t think anyone saw that coming.
Rounding out the top five is It: Chapter Two which grossed $5.3 million. The horror sequel dropped 48.1% and has actually seen decent drops in the last three weeks. The film is still lagging behind the original but a domestic take of $202.1 million is a huge win for the horror genre and it’s now only the third R-rated film to top $200 million at the domestic box office. Internationally, the film added another $5.6 million from 78 markets for an international gross totaling $234.5 million and a worldwide total that now stands at $436.7 million with a November 1 opening in Japan still to come.
Check out the full top ten results below:
| Film | Total | % Change | Gross to Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onward | $10,601,952 | -72.9% | $60.3 |
| Bloodshot | $9,176,695 | NEW | $9.17 |
| I Still Believe | $9,103,614 | NEW | $9.10 |
| The Invisible Man | $5,890,805 | -61.1% | $64.3 |
| The Hunt | $5,304,455 | NEW | $5.3 |
| Sonic the Hedgehog | $2,522,584 | -67.3% | $145.7 |
| The Way Back | $2,356,115 | -71.2% | $13.3 |
| The Call of the Wild | $2,226,720 | -67.1% | $62 |
| Emma. | $1,295,215 | -73% | $9.9 |
| Bad Boys for Life | $1,102,208 | -63.5% | $204.2 |
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