{"id":234450,"date":"2019-10-13T19:10:19","date_gmt":"2019-10-13T23:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=234450"},"modified":"2019-10-13T19:10:19","modified_gmt":"2019-10-13T23:10:19","slug":"joker-tops-box-office-again-beats-addams-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/10\/13\/joker-tops-box-office-again-beats-addams-family\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Joker’ tops box office again, beats ‘Addams Family’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: Put on a happy face. #JokerMovie in theaters and in @imax October 4. (Photo<\/a>: jokermovie\/Instagram<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES \u2014 The first weekend was no fluke: \u201cJoker\u201d is a hit.<\/p>\n

The R-rated comic book villain origin story had a phenomenal second weekend at the box office, topping the charts once more over newcomers such as the animated \u201cThe Addams Family\u201d and the Will Smith action pic \u201cGemini Man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warner Bros. said Sunday that \u201cJoker\u201d added an estimated $55 million from North American theatres this weekend, bringing its domestic total to $192.7 million.<\/p>\n

Not only are the pure grosses impressive, but \u201cJoker\u201d also dropped only 43% from its record-breaking debut.<\/p>\n

For comic book films, which are often front-loaded and regularly see second weekend falls that are over 50%, it’s a notably small dip. It’s also a slightly lower drop than \u201cWonder Woman\u201d and \u201cBlack Panther\u201d \u2014 both of which had higher initial openings and went on to have long lives in theatres.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are incredible numbers and really reflect how interested and excited people were,\u201d said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0film\u00a0had a rollercoaster ride to release, with highs like winning the top prize at the Venice\u00a0Film\u00a0Festival, and lows when concerns about the\u00a0film\u00a0inciting violence made headlines and prompted increased security at many theatres across the country. But audiences have spoken with their dollars and \u201cwere not going to be deterred,\u201d Dergarabedian said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows that content wins. A great movie will rise up above all the noise over whatever controversy or security concerns there were,\u201d he added. \u201cYou’re totally left out of the water cooler conversation if you haven’t seen ‘Joker.\u201d’<\/p>\n

Internationally, \u201cJoker\u201d added $123.7 million from 79 markets, bringing its global total to $543.9 million after just 12 days in theatres.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoker’s\u201d second weekend success played well alongside the counterprogramming of the kid-friendly \u201cAddams Family,\u201d which exceeded expectations and came in a strong second with $30.3 million.<\/p>\n

United Artists Releasing distributed the\u00a0film\u00a0from MGM and BRON Creative that features the voices of Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron and Bette Midler. \u201cThe Addams Family\u201d defied middling reviews (43% on Rotten Tomatoes) and benefited from a marketplace with relatively few family friendly options in theatres right now, aside from \u201cAbominable\u201d which is now in its third weekend.<\/p>\n

The ambitious, star-driven \u201cGemini Man\u201d was not so lucky. The visual effects-heavy Ang Lee\u00a0film\u00a0about an assassin on the run from a younger version of himself (both played by Smith using state of the art de-aging technology) opened in third place with only $20.5 million. Even Smith’s disastrous \u201cAfter Earth\u201d had a better debut ($27.5 million).<\/p>\n

Reviews were overwhelmingly poor (it’s currently at 26% on Rotten Tomatoes) but \u201cGemini Man\u201d also had the \u201cJoker\u201d factor to contend with, which may have contributed to the disappointing opening, according to Dergarabedian.<\/p>\n

\u201cGemini Man\u201d was not a cheap endeavour either. The\u00a0film\u00a0from Paramount and Skydance cost a reported $140 million to make after rebates and will have a difficult time breaking even.<\/p>\n

Rounding out the top five were \u201cAbominable,\u201d with $6.2 million, and \u201cDownton Abbey,\u201d with $4.9 million.<\/p>\n

In limited release, Bong Joon-Ho’s \u201cParasite\u201d had an extraordinary weekend, earning $376,264 from only 3 locations. Its $125,421 per theatre average is a record for 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s amazing how well (\u201cParasite\u201d) did. It’s one of the biggest stories of the weekend,\u201d Dergarabedian said. \u201cThat per theatre average means that those movie theatres were full. The demand far outweighed the supply.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neon is distributing the class-conscious Korean thriller, which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes\u00a0Film\u00a0Festival earlier this year and is already a massive hit internationally, with over $70.9 million from South Korea alone. With near-unanimous rave reviews, \u201cParasite\u201d is also expected to be an awards contender and will be expanding in North America in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Comscore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.<\/p>\n

1.\u201dJoker,\u201d $55 million.<\/p>\n

2.\u201dThe Addams Family,\u201d $30.3 million.<\/p>\n

3.\u201dGemini Man,\u201d $20.5 million.<\/p>\n

4.\u201dAbominable,\u201d $6.2 million.<\/p>\n

5.\u201dDownton Abbey,\u201d $4.9 million.<\/p>\n

6.\u201dHustlers,\u201d $3.9 million.<\/p>\n

7.\u201dJudy,\u201d $3.3 million.<\/p>\n

8.\u201dIt: Chapter Two,\u201d $3.2 million.<\/p>\n

9.\u201dJexi,\u201d $3.1 million.<\/p>\n

10.\u201dAd Astra,\u201d $1.9 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2014 The first weekend was no fluke: \u201cJoker\u201d is a hit. The R-rated comic book villain origin story …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":234451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-234450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","mauthors-lindsey-bahr","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234450"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":234452,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234450\/revisions\/234452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}