Four weekends after it was first released in the U.S., and Joker is back in the top spot at the domestic box office, after fending off it's closest challenger (and previous brief No. 1) Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.
According to Variety, the two headlining movie villains had a close race to claim No. 1, but estimates predict that the Joaquin Phoenix-starring villain origin tale will once again settle into first, after pulling in $18.9 million in domestic receipts. Admittedly, the keyword is "estimate" because A.) God forbid we all wait a day, and B.) Maleficent was trailing closely with a tally of $18.5 million and can maybe get a Sunday evening bump or whatever. So tread cautiously before sharing your insider movie knowledge that everyone can just fact check on their phone.
However things ultimately play out, Joker continues to generate major profits off its estimated $55-70 million budget. Should the flick hold on to it's $400k lead, it would be the third weekend that it's been No. 1, which is especially impressive when you consider that it's showing second-life by getting back into that spot in a non-consecutive week.
The only other 2019 films to enjoy three weeks at No. 1 are M. Night Shyamalan's Glass, and Marvel's Avengers: Endgame.
As it currently stands, Joker is the highest grossing R-rated movie in history, as it's brought in a rounded-up $849 million, with $277 million coming from North America, and another $571 million coming from the rest of the world's continents.
As for what else people went to see this weekend, the aforementioned Maleficent: Mistress of Evil has now brought in $65 million at North American box offices, which is disappointing. But it is doing considerably better around the world ($228 million internationally).
In the three-spot was the more seasonal animated Addams Family pic, which brought in $11.7 million. At fourth was Zombieland: Double Tap, which just missed out on the three-spot with $11.6 million.
The horror thriller Countdown had the biggest weekend for new releases, but that was only good for a fifth-place finish on the back of $9 million. That's not bad considering the fact that the budget was $6.5 million, but this is also probably the last time we'll ever write about it.
In sixth was the R-rated cop drama Black and Blue, which took in $8 million (off a $12 million budget). At seventh was the got-to-be-considered-an-official-flop-by-nowGemini Man, which earned just $4 million to give it a total of just over $43 million. In the eighth spot was The Lighthouse ($3 million), in ninth is alleged threat to awards season Parasite ($1.8 million), and in 10th was Taika Waititi's Jojo Rabbit, which earned just $1 million, though it was shown in just 55 theaters...so it actually did pretty damn well.
