LogFAQs > #929846497

With $304.2 million in North America after five weeks in theaters, Jokers new global cume is around $953 million. Presuming its 32% domestic/68% overseas split holds, then it will have a new global cume of around $957 million by tonight. That will be 15.3x its $62.5 million production budget, which will make the Todd Phillips-directed and Joaquin Phoenix-starring drama more profitable, in terms of budget versus global gross, than Jim Carreys The Mask ($351 million on a $23 million budget in 1994). The most profitable big comic book movies are Venom ($854 million on a $90 million budget), Batman ($411 million/$35 million), Deadpool ($783 million/$58 million), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ($200 million/$13.5 million), The Mask ($351 million/$23 million) and now Joker ($956 million/$62.5 million).

That means DC Films and Warner Bros. Joker is the most profitable comic book movie of all time. In a skewed way, Joker represents every studios dream, in that its a mid-budget, 2-D title thats pulling top-tier blockbuster business without relying on China. That it happens to be an R-rated psychological drama is a bonus of sorts, as its the third-cheapest $900 million grosser of all time after Bohemian Rhapsody ($905 million on a $52 million budget) and The Lion King ($968 million on a $55 million budget in 1994). When it tops $1 billion worldwide in the next week or so, itll be the cheapest movie to do so, with a budget just under the $63 million spent by Jurassic Park back in 1993.

Up until last December, we hadnt seen a $1 billion grosser not from Disney or Universal since Paramounts Transformers: Age of Extinction in 2014. Weve had two newbies in the last year, both comic book movies with huge boosts in China. But unlike Warner Bros. Aquaman ($1.148 billion worldwide with $298 million in China) and Spider-Man: Far from Home ($1.131 billion with $199 million in China), Joker will earn its $1 billion-plus gross without a 3-D boost and without China. When it passes The Dark Knight ($1.004 billion worldwide in 2008), itll be the biggest-grossing movie ever to not play in China). Yes, thats assuming it doesnt eventually get a Chinese play date. But without China, it should still flirt with a global cume over/under Aladdin ($1.0506 billion).