The weekend box office returns are in, and once again, Joker reigns supreme. The Todd Phillips movie starring Joaquin Phoenix as a crazy killer clown who loves to dance ended up at the top of the box office for the second week in a row. As far as new releases go, The Addams Family had a strong opening at second place. But Gemini Man, starring Will Smith and Will Smith, had trouble drawing a crowd. The real winner of the weekend, though, was Bong Joon Ho‘s Parasite, which only opened in three theaters, but hauled in the largest per-theater average of the year.
Right before Joker hit theaters, I theorized that the film would open huge and then have a drop off the following week. I was wrong – dead wrong. The dark and violent comic book movie continues to thrive at the box office, a fact that is no doubt making the folks at Warner Bros. very happy. There was always a slight risk associated with relating an R-rated Batman adjacent movie in theaters, but the risk paid off. In its second week, Joker took in $55 million, bringing its domestic total to $192.7 million. Overseas, the pic hauled in an additional $123.7 million, bringing its worldwide total to a whopping $543.9 million.
Will anything push this out of the top spot anytime soon? Hard to say. This upcoming weekend sees the release of sequels Zombieland: Double Tap and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, but it feels as if there’s almost no buzz around either of those movies. Joker might win again, and that would be pretty amazing.
As for the new movies that opened over the weekend against Joker, results vary. The animated The Addams Family had a respectable weekend, bringing in $30.29 million (per Box Office Mojo). But Gemini Man, the experimental Ang Lee action flick starring two Will Smiths, did not fare so well. It only earned $20.5 million, which doesn’t look so good against its $138 million budget. The biggest loser, though, was the comedy Jexi, with just $3.1 million. Yikes.
While Joker gets to stay at the top of the charts, the weekend’s biggest winner was Bong Joon Ho’s highly acclaimed Parasite. The film opened in limited release in New York in LA, playing in three theaters total. But that limited release netted $376,264, which (via Box Office Mojo again) makes it the biggest location average of the year and the 18th largest of all-time.
The top 10 films at the box office right now can be seen below.
1. Joker
2. The Addams Family
3. Gemini Man
4. Abominable
5. Downton Abbey
6. Hustlers
7. Judy
8. It Chapter Two
9. Jexi
10. Ad Astra
The post Weekend Box Office: No One Can Defeat ‘Joker’, Not Even ‘The Addams Family’ or ‘Gemini Man’ (But Hey, How About That ‘Parasite’!) appeared first on /Film.