Joker has been a major source of conversation for both comic book fans, and award circuit watch-list makers. Now, the meme makers are getting in on the action by splicing Joaquin Phoenix‘s character next to Tobey Maguire‘s Spider-Man in a mash-up that no one really saw coming. The screengrab from Spider-Man 3 shows a newly “serious” Peter Parker dancing after a montage.
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The purpose of the meme is to show how people share joke formats on the internet. Reddit has a habit of coming up with about 3,000 permutations of a joke within the first day and a half of a format existing. This observation is undoubtedly true, and shortly after the posters figure out a way to twist a joke into a meta-narrative about memes or the joke itself.
One thing that’s no joke, Todd Phillips’ film is already gaining some serious steam with critics. Rotten Tomatoes ratings were very kind the first week with an 88 percent Fresh consensus. Warner Brothers is probably not sweating their choice to give Phillips a shot to make a darker version of the Joker now. Box office projections have also been very kind to the movie ahead of release.
A leading box office analyst even suggested that the film could be an R-rated record-setter for the studio. Shawn Robbins penned a long-range tracking report on Box Office Pro that paints a favorable picture for Joker. He’s predicting a $100 million opening weekend en route to an October record for R-rated fare. Venom is the current October record holder which made $80.3 million for Sony on opening weekend.
He said on Joker, “Online chatter is embracing the hype, and our metrics now point to this clearly being the “water cooler” type of movie that inspires interest from a variety of demographics — not unlike another creepy clown movie from Warner Bros. in September 2017. We remain cautious in expectations for staying power as the R-rated film is likely to be divisive among general audiences, but odds at becoming the first-ever $100 million+ opener in October history look increasingly favorable.”
As the meme at the top suggests, success brings imitators. One wonders if Marvel will try their hand with its own more mature look at a character if there is this sort of money available for a smaller project. Only time will tell, but it looks like Warner Brothers has a critical and financial success on its hand this fall.
Joker stars Phoenix (Arthur Fleck/Joker), 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.
Joker hits theaters on October 4th. Are you excited to see Phoenix’s turn with the character? Tell us in the comments.
