The studios appeared to think most people would be busy with pre-Halloween festivities this weekend and didn’t bother releasing any major new films in theaters. That left the holdovers to duke it out with ‘Joker’ taking back the #1 spot after ‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’ took over last weekend. The two films were pretty neck-and-neck through the weekend and the difference between their grosses was less than a million.
‘Joker’ made an additional $18.9M domestically, and as has been widely reported, the movies has made over $849M worldwide, making it the #1 R-rated movie ever. It is still a long way off from being the #1 R-rated movie in the US. That honor still belongs to ‘The Passion of the Christ’. But that movie was not as successful overseas. On a global scale, ‘Joker’ overcame ‘Deadpool 2’, ‘Deadpool’, ‘The Matrix Reloaded’, ‘It: Chapter One’, and ‘Logan’, then ‘The Passion of the Christ’.
RELATED: Movie Review: ‘Joker’ Is An Enthralling Film We Can All Identify With
‘Deadpool’ star Ryan Reynolds “congratulated” ‘Joker’ on the feat, with this tweet:
R-Rated box office congratulatory posts aren’t like the ones you’re used to… pic.twitter.com/OTy2BqIP4f
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) October 25, 2019
In another milestone, thanks to its modest budget, ‘Joker’ has now made half a billion in profit… equal to what ‘Avengers: Endgame’ made! Yeah, that was the highest-grossing movie of all time, but it was expensive as hell to make and market, so most of its gross went to covering that. Now Warner Brothers has replicated that success with a much smaller flick.
For the weekend, ‘Maleficent’ was right behind ‘Joker’, with $18.5M.
Overall, the studios were right. It was kind of a dud weekend. The #3 and #4 movies were also only separated by an even tinier margin. Perhaps fueled by Halloween vibes, ‘The Addams Family’ took in $11.7M, versus ‘Zombieland: Double Tap’s $11.6M.
The week’s only two major releases, low-budget cop drama ‘Black and Blue’ and equally low-budget horror flick ‘Countdown’ were likewise in a battle for the #5 spot. After a surge on Saturday, ‘Countdown’ came out slightly ahead with $9M, versus the $8.3M generated by ‘Black and Blue’.
Audiences gave ‘Countdown’ a C CinemaScore grade, and 3 out of 5 PostTrak stars. ‘Black and Blue’ received 4 stars. (No CinemaScore.)
TOP FIVE
- Joker (Warner Brothers/Village Roadshow/Bron Films) – $18.9M
- Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (Disney) – $18.5M
- The Addams Family (MGM/UAR) – $11.7M
- Zombieland: Double Tap (Sony) – $11.6M
- Countdown (STX Films) – $9M
The tentpoles return next weekend, with the release of ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’, which is now projected to gross between $41-47M. There will be some counterprogramming from ‘Harriet’, ‘Motherless Brooklyn’, and ‘Arctic Dogs’.
Check back to see if the ‘Terminator’ will “be back” in grand fashion, or if fans have had enough of this franchise.
Source: Deadline
