'Joker' Delivers Largest October Opening Ever with $93.5 Million

This weekend saw the Warner Bros. DC Comics adaptation Joker deliver the largest October domestic opening weekend of all-time and the fourth largest opening ever for an R-rated feature. The film was the #1 movie domestically and overseas, kicking things off with a $234 million global launch.

With an estimated $93.5 million, Warner Bros.'s Joker delivered the largest October domestic opening ever, topping the $80.25 million opening for Venom just last year, not to mention coming very close to the $93.8 million opening for Justice League in 2017, which it could very easily top once actuals come in on Monday.

The Joker's performance is also the fourth largest domestic opening ever for an R-rated film and comes up just shy of becoming only the fourth R-rated film to ever open with $100+ million. Heading into the weekend the film had already broken a record, becoming the widest October opening ever, playing in 4,374 locations and on Thursday night it delivered an October record for preview grosses, bringing in $13.3 million. Now attention will turn to how well it will be able to holdover next week.

Opening day audiences gave the film a "B+" CinemaScore with the under-35 set giving it an "A-". To go along with a solid critical opinion — 69% on RottenTomatoes — the film holds a 91% audience score on RottenTomatoes to go along with an impressive 9.1/10 from IMDb users. The opening weekend crowd skewed heavily male at 64% while 66% of the audience was under the age of 35.

Internationally, Joker debuted in 73 markets and brought in an estimated $140.5 million for a $234 million global debut. Leading the way was a $16.3 million opening in South Korea followed by the UK ($14.8m), Mexico ($13.1m), Russia ($10m), Brazil ($7.3m), Japan ($7.0m), Italy ($6.8m), Australia ($6.6m), Indonesia ($5.9m), Spain ($4.6m), India ($3.9m), Taiwan ($2.9m) and the United Arab Emirates ($2.7m). Of those openings, the debuts in UK, Russia, Italy, Spain, Poland, UAE, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico and Australia marked the largest overseas openings for a WB title this year. Looking ahead, the film will open in France and Germany later this week.

Universal's animated feature Abominable comes in second. The DreamWorks Animation and Pearl Studio's title dipped -42% in its second weekend for an estimated $12 million three-day and a $37.8 million domestic cume after ten days in release. Internationally, the film opened in China this weekend with $11.2 million, contributing to a $24.6 million international performance from 44 overall markets and an overseas cume that now totals $38.5 million and a global cume totaling $76.3 million.

In third is Downton Abbey, which enters its third week dropping just -44% and delivering an estimated $8 million as the film's domestic cume is now just shy of $74 million. Internationally, the film added $6.6 million this weekend, pushing its overseas cume to $61.8 million for a global total topping $135 million.

STX's Hustlers continues its strong run, topping $91 million domestically this weekend after dipping -45% and bringing in an estimated $6.3 million. Internationally, the film also added another $1.9 million for an overseas cume totaling $18.7 million and a global tally that now tops $110 million.

Rounding out the top five is WB and New Line's It: Chapter Two, which brought in an estimated $5.35 million as it enters its fifth week in release and becomes only the third R-rated film ever to top $200 million domestically. Internationally, the film added another $5.6 million from 78 markets for an international cume totaling $234.5 million and a worldwide total that now stands at $436.7 million with a November 1 opening in Japan still in the film's future.

Just outside the top five, Roadside's expansion of Judy into 1,458 locations (+997) saw the film deliver a $4.4 million three-day, improving on the film's limited opening last weekend by +52.4%. The film's domestic cume now stands at $8.9 million after ten days in release.

Elsewhere in the top ten, Yash Raj's War launched on Wednesday and headed into the weekend playing in just 305 locations and landed a spot in the top ten with an estimated $1.58 million for a five day cume topping $2 million.

In limited release, Sony Classics's release of Pedro Almodovar's Pain & Glory got off to a strong start, bringing in an estimated $160,087 from four locations ($40,022 PTA). On the flip side, Fox Searchlight's Lucy in the Sky fizzled, opening in 37 theaters with an estimated $55,000 ($1,667 PTA).

Next weekend sees the release of three new wide releases including UAR's animated feature The Addams Family in over 3,800 theaters, Paramount will launch Ang Lee and Will Smith's Gemini Man in 3,500 locations; and Lionsgate will release the comedy Jexi in approximately 2,300 theaters.