Joker Box Office Tracking For Record October Opening Weekend

Joker, the new Todd Phillips film that follows the origin story of Batman’s biggest foe, is hitting theaters next month and is expected to have a successful opening. According to Deadline, the early box office reports suggest it will earn around $90 million, which would make it October’s biggest opening in history. If the projections are correct, it will beat out the current October record-breaker, Venom, which earned $80.2 million on its opening last year.

Deadline adds that another tracking service predicts Joker will earn a little less at $82 million due to its R-rating (Venom was PG-13), but since Halloween (2018) had a pretty impressive R-rated opening last October with $76.2 million, they believe it’s possible for Joker to reach that $90 million goal.

The report also notes the top R-rated box office openers based on comic books, which are Deadpool ($132.4M), Deadpool 2 ($125.5M), Logan ($88.4M), 300 ($70.9M), and Watchmen ($55.2M).

Joker was met with mostly positive reviews after it premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where it earned the festival’s top prize. However, the film’s Rotten Tomatoes score dropped down to a 78% once it was screened again at the Toronto International Film Festival. Comicbook.com’s own Brandon Davis loved the film, calling it an “insane masterpiece.” You can read the full review here.

Joker stars Joaquin Phoenix (Arthur Fleck), Zazie Beetz (Sophie Dumond), Robert De Niro (Murray Franklin), Brett Cullen (Thomas Wayne), Frances Conroy (Penny Fleck), Marc Maron (Ted Marco), Douglas Hodge (Alfred Pennyworth), Josh Pais (Hoyt Vaughn), Bryan Tyree Henry, Bryan Callen, Shea Whigham, and Glen Fleshler. You can find the official description for the movie below:

“Drama. Joker centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone story not seen before on the big screen. The exploration of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a man disregarded by society, is not only a gritty character study but also a broader cautionary tale.”

Joker is hitting theaters on October 4th. Other upcoming DC films include Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7, 2020, and Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020.