The ever-divisive, Joaquin Phoenix-fronted Joker film is now the most profitable comic book film of all time, according to a new report from Forbes. Having made 15.3x its production budget of USD $62.5 million, the film has brought in USD $957 million globally so far, which means that out of all the comic book films, ever, it’s brought in the most cash for its budget.
This means it will have surpassed other comic book box office hits like Jim Carrey’s The Mask, which made USD $351 million on a USD $23 million budget back in 1994, and more recent hits like Venom (USD $854 million on a USD $90 million budget) and Deadpool (USD $783 million/USD $58 million).
Also noteworthy is the fact that the film hasn’t yet opened in China, which gives films a huge box office bump. Forbes stated that Joker is likely to reach a global box office of USD $1 billion without opening in China, stating: “When it passes The Dark Knight (USD $1.004 billion worldwide in 2008), it’ll be the biggest-grossing movie ever to not play in China.”
Seems like Warner Bros have gotten the last laugh, this time!