Box-Office Weekend: Joker Obliterates Competition

The latest comic-book adaptation, Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix, completely dominated the box-office weekend, as it brought in $93.5 million during its opening weekend. The film enjoyed the largest domestic October opening weekend box-office of all time.

This is also the fourth largest domestic opening for an R-rated film of all time as well. Audiences seem positive towards the film, with critics less so. Ultimately, time will tell if the film breaks even more records beyond its first week of release.

As was expected, every other film pretty much dropped a spot in the rankings this weekend in the wake of the Joker tsunami. Abominable finished in second place with $12 million and a two-week total of $37.8 million. Similarly, Downton Abbey fell to third place, but added $8.0 million to give it a three-week total of $73.6 million.

Dropping to fourth place was the comedy Hustlers, which added $6.3 million over the weekend, giving it a four-week total of $91.3 million. It Chapter Two stayed steady, despite falling a spot to fifth with a weekend take of $5.4 million, which gives the film an impressive five-week cumulative total of $202.2 million.

The science fiction film Ad Astra fell only one rung this week to sixth place and managed to add $4.6 million to raise its three-week tally to $43.7 million. Meanwhile, the Judy Garland biopic, Judy, starring Renée Zellweger, leapt over Sylvester Stallone and Rambo: Last Blood to finish in seventh with $4.4 million for the weekend and a two-week total of $8.99 million. The aforementioned Rambo: Last Blood dropped to the eighth spot with a $3.6 million weekend, and a three-week tally of $39.8 million.

Another newcomer to the top ten, War, debuted in the ninth spot with a $1.6 million in its first week of release. Finally, Good Boys dropped from eight to tenth earning just under a million dollars over the weekend. As it looks poised to exit the top ten next week, the film can boast that it has made “good” with $82.0 million over eight weeks.

Departing the top ten this week were the live-action version of The Lion King—which can certainly roar from pride rock that it brought in $541.3 million over the last twelve weeks—and the action film Angel Has Fallen, which can only claim $68.3 million over the past seven weeks.

Next weekend will boast the animated feature The Addams Family as well as Will Smith in Gemini Man and the comedy Jexi. All three films are certain to enter the fray as the box-office weekend shakes up yet again.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com

An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

@miketyrkus

Mike Tyrkus

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