New Box Office Tracking Suggests Joker Could Close in on $100M Opening Weekend

It looks like Warner Brothers' latest comic book movie might end up making quite the splash at the box office. As first reactions to the movie began surfacing, Box Office Pro updated the opening weekend range for the film to $70 million to $95m. On the low end of the range, Joke would still edge out recent releases such as Shazam! and Aquaman. Should it make upwards of $95m — or even more — in its opening weekend, it'd near the top five DC Comics films ever released.

Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman currently sits in the sixth slot with a massive $103m opening weekend haul while Man of Steel is in the coveted fifth spot at $116.6m. The movie is receiving rave reviews from critics, debuting with an 85 percent Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. As of this writing, the film has been bumped up to an 88 percent rating on the review aggregating site.

ComicBook.com's Brandon Davis called the movie an "insane masterpiece" in his full review, applauding Joaquin Phoenix's job in the titular role.

"Joker is loaded with mystery on top of its numerous twists," Davis says in his review. "By the time it ends, viewers will be left with several questions about the experience, some of which might be scarily directed at themselves. Phoenix's Arthur laughs his way through terrible scenarios. For this, the actor demands an Oscar nomination it might not be the only nod this DC Comics movie earns. The cinematography, score, and direction create something unlike anything before it - -and it's terrifying, thrilling, and moving.

Elsewhere, the movie's debut at the Venice Film Festival resulted in an eight-minute standing ovation from the movie-goers in attendance.

"Why can't you do a genre comic-book film like that?" Director Todd Phillips said of his R-rated character study for Warner Brothers. "We thought this could be an exciting approach to this genre. I'm not sure what it means for DC or Marvel ... It was a hard movie for us to get made, to convince DC and the studio at first, but we thought we would keep pushing because we thought it would be special."

Joker hits theaters October 4th.

How much do you think Joker will end up making in theaters? Share your thoughts in the comments below!