Joker Passes Batman v Superman at Domestic Box Office

Warner Bros. and DC Films have scored a massive success with Joker becoming the most profitable comic book movie of all time - and now Joker can add another impressive milestone to its list. As of writing this, Joker has officially passed Batman v Superman's run at the domestic box office, which was an impressive $330,360,194. Joker has now earned $330,601,522, adding to its total global haul of $1,048,301,522. Given that Joker only cost $55 million for Warner Bros. to make, it's not a shock that the studio is in a much more celebratory mood for this win than it was for Batman v Superman (which cost upwards of $255M).

The strange thing about all this? Batman v Superman was heavily criticized (to the point of box office failure) for being Zack Snyder's dark, nihilistic take on DC Comics lore; meanwhile, Joker has been just as heavily praised (to the point of massive box office success) for being... a dark and nihilistic take on DC Comics lore. To be fair, fans understand that Joker is a much different character than Batman and Superman, and therefore can be depicted in a much darker tone. At the same time, Joker was just as risky a venture as Snyder's take on Batman and Superman's first meeting. When director Todd Philips first pitched a Joker origin film, DC fans were less than universally thrilled about the notion, with many stating that giving The Joker a full-fledged origin would only detract from the character's power and intrigue as a force for chaos. Now, we're talking about Joker being the most financially successful comic book movie of all time, as well as talking awards consideration for what director Todd Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix have achieved .

It will be interesting to see if Joker still has enough wind in its sails to knock off the next highest earners at the domestic box office. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy earned $333 million; Spider-Man: Homecoming webbed $334M, and Joker's franchise competitor Aquaman swam away with $335M. All of those are arguably within Joker's striking distance - although, the holiday season is quickly approaching, bringing with it a whole slew of highly-anticipated movies that will quickly slow Joker's roll.

Joker is now in theaters. Upcoming DC Movies include Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7, 2020, Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020, The Batman on June 25, 2021, The Suicide Squad on August 6, 2021, and Aquaman 2 on December 16, 2020. The Flash is set to go into production in 2021.