Joker on Friday is set to become the first R-rated film to earn a billion dollars at the worldwide box office, according to Forbes. The dark drama, starring Joaquin Phoenix giving a new take on the classic Btaman Villain is entering the weekend with earnings of approximately $998 million worldwide, the site reports. The film opened on Oct. 4 in the US.
The billion-dollar box office club isn’t as hard to join as it once was. If Joker passes that milestone, it will have plenty of company, though none of those films had the more adult R-rating. Billion-dollar films so far in 2019 include Aquaman, Toy Story 4, The Lion King, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, Aladdin and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Aquaman opened in late 2018, but crossed the billion-dollar mark in 2019.
Joker is now the 7th biggest Hollywood movie at the 2019 box office, behind action-packed blockbuster Avengers: Endgame at $2.8 billion and family movie The Lion King at $1.6 billion, both from Walt Disney.
The movie is expected to land nominations in the upcoming Hollywood awards season and has inspired fans to visit the spot in New York’s Bronx district where Phoenix’s character transforms into the Joker, his face painted like a clown and with green hair, and dances triumphantly down a set of steep steps.
