The latest DC Comics movie is Joker, an origin story of Batman’s archnemesis. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Joker follows failed stand-up comedy Arthur Fleck as he battles his demons. But with most movies costing millions to make, Joker breaks the mould once again in this regard.
What was the budget of Joker?
Joker was, for superhero movie standards, an incredibly cheap movie to make, with a budget of just $55million or £44.6million.
While this sounds like an incredibly large sum of money, it is actually far smaller than one would expect, especially when compared to other DC and Marvel movies.
For example, the DCEU Shazam! which is technically set in a different universe to Joker, cost the studio between $80 to 100million to make, which equals, £64.8 to £81.1million.
And the movie before that, Aquaman cost a staggering $160 to 200million to make, equalling £129.8 to £162.2million, which could in part be due to the number of special effects and CGI used.
Of course, Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, which was a precursor to the DCEU, also cost millions to make, with each movie costing between $150 to $230million, which is £121.6 to £186.5million to make.
Compared to this, Joker’s $55million seems like child’s play, especially when it has already soared above its budget in its opening weekend.
However, this is also expected, as Joker is an origin story rather than a fully-fledged superhero movie.
As it shows the origins of Joker, a failing comedian named Arthur Fleck who struggles with his negative thoughts and living in poverty with his mother, there are far fewer crashes and bangs and special effects.
Of course, as the Joker is born, more anarchy ensues, though by no means at the scale of some of the set-pieces in The Dark Knight.
How much money has Joker made?
In its opening weekend in the USA, Joker made $93.5million, which is £75.8million.
That means it has topped the box office top 10 in America, beating out movies which have been out for at least a week.
Across the rest of the world, Joker has made $140.5million (£114million), meaning it has taken a total of $234million (£189.8million) in its opening weekend.
This is staggering and means it has already totally shattered box office records for October releases.
The previous October record belonged to Venom, the Spider-Man spin-off, which made $80million in its opening weekend, which is equal to £63.9million.
Joker’s huge things has also meant it has hugely surpassed its production budget, which was just $55million, or £44.6million, so its profit is already $179million, or £145.2million.
But Joker is a long way from beating the DCEU’s best performing release – Aquaman – which broke the billion mark when it made $1.148billion at the box office, which is $931.1million.
This has sparked some fans wondering if a second film could be made, or whether Phoenix could reprise his Joker role and appear in upcoming DC movie, The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson.
So far, he and director Todd Phillips have denied this as a possibility, but as the money keeps rolling in, things could easily change.
Joker is in cinemas now