JOKER Set To Slash Another October Box Office Record With Projected $58.7 Million In Its Second Weekend

Todd Phillips' Joker is well on its way to breaking another October box office record. After blowing past Sony's Venom to set a new opening weekend record for the month with $96 million domestically, the Clown Prince of Crime now has his sights set on Warner Bros.' Gravity.

According to Deadline, Joker is tracking towards $58.7 million in sophomore frame. This would make it the best second weekend for a film in October, easily beating Gravity ($43.1M).

It seems the controversial nature of Joker has helped fuel the R-rated film to all sorts of October records. It currently holds the title for biggest October domestic opening of all-time ($96M), the biggest October international opening of all-time ($127.2M), the biggest IMAX October opening ($9M), and biggest worldwide launch of all-time for October ($207.3M). 

As of Friday, Joker's $137.7 domestic haul was among the all-time biggest 7-day starts for an R-rated film. Its projected 10-day cume of $193 million would put Joker well on track to becoming one of the top ten-grossing DC Comics films at the domestic box office, and within striking distance of Suicide Squad (#6, $325M) and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (#5, $330M).

All-Time biggest 7-day starts for R-rated films:

$180.4M Deadpool
$164.7M Deadpool 2
$158.7M It
$158.2M Matrix Reloaded
$148.9M Hangover 2
$144.6M Passion of the Christ
$137.7M #Joker

— Gitesh Pandya (@GiteshPandya) October 11, 2019

#Joker set to rule #boxoffice for a 2nd wknd in a row at #1. FRI saw a big $17M, down 57% from opening day FRI. Wknd shd reach about $55M raising 10-day cume to $193M with amazing hold.

— Gitesh Pandya (@GiteshPandya) October 12, 2019

Director Todd Phillips “Joker” centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone fictional story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips’ exploration of Arthur Fleck, who is indelibly portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, is of a man struggling to find his way in Gotham’s fractured society. A clown-for-hire by day, he aspires to be a stand-up comic at night…but finds the joke always seems to be on him. Caught in a cyclical existence between apathy and cruelty, Arthur makes one bad decision that brings about a chain reaction of escalating events in this gritty character study.

Joker is officially "Certified Fresh" on review aggregator RottenTomatoes and is a B+ on CinemaScore. Though well-received by audiences, the film seems to be dividing Oscar voters.