Joker isn't nearly done tearing through box office records.
The DC comic book film has officially become the highest-grossing R-rated movie in box office history, having grossed $788 million, The Hollywood Reporter writes. This breaks the $783 million worldwide record previously held by Deadpool, unadjusted for inflation. Deadpool 2 also grossed $785 million worldwide, but this includes a subsequent re-release.
After hitting theaters mired in controversy, Joker has been continuously impressing at the box office, getting started by shattering the record for biggest opening weekend ever for an October release. Now, it's racking up worldwide grosses on par with a major superhero action blockbuster, despite the film being a slower-paced character study in the vein of Taxi Driver, and despite not even having a release in China, where superhero films often rack up a huge chunk of change.
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In fact, Joker, which reportedly cost about $60 million to make, will take in more than $400 million in profits, Deadline reports. That would make it nearly as profitable as Avengers: Infinity War, Deadline notes, a film that grossed far more but also had a significantly higher budget.
Now the question becomes whether Joker, set to surge past $800 million, can actually break $1 billion at the worldwide box office, becoming only the second non-Disney movie of the year to do so. Box office prognosticators once thought that impossible, but Warner Bros. may have the last laugh.
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