Joker Breaks Box Office Record for R-Rated Movies

It’s official people, ‘Joker’ is the most popular R-rated movie, as measured by box office receipts.  ‘Joker’ is the story of the metamorphosis of Arthur Fleck  (played by Joaquin Phoenix) into arguably the most famous supervillain of all time (see the movie title if you’re not sure who it is).  The film starts off exposing Arthur as a man in an extremely unenviable life.  As one of my friends aptly put it, “The guy just couldn’t catch a break!”  He starts off behind the 8-ball, having a neurological disorder that makes him laugh uncontrollably, working a dead-end awful job as a clown for hire, and living in squalor while caring for his mother in a relationship that is super-cringey.  Ultimately, the beatdowns take him to the edge, and instead of breaking, he evolves into Joker.

The film has drawn quite a bit of controversy.  First, Todd Phillips, the film’s director, let the world know that his was going to be a new kind of Joker that didn’t follow Batman canon.  He walked it back a bit later and admitted that he did draw on canon for inspiration.  Next, he and Phoenix both started taking heat from various fronts with accusations that they were glorifying violence.  However, in the end, as the box office receipts show, ‘Joker’ has turned out to be a very popular movie (even though the Batman purists hate it now more than ever).

 

RELATED: How Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker Compares To The Joker From The Comics

 

The prior record was held by ‘Deadpool‘ at $782 million and ‘Deadpool 2’ at $785 million.  However, ‘Joker’ earned $93.5 million at its opening, setting a record for the best October debut.  As of last Thursday, the film has earned $788.1 million.  Ryan Reynolds, who played Deadpool in the movies, sent a humorous congratulatory tweet to the film’s team:

Love it or hate it, ‘Joker’ is a successful movie and has become part of the mainstream of the comic book movie genre.  Here’s to future endeavors!

 

Source: Entertainment Weekly