Joker: Joaquin Phoenix, Todd Phillips' film becomes first R-rated movie to hit $1 bn mark at global box office

Warner Bros’ ambitious project Joker will reportedly soon hit over $1 billion, in terms of sales, at the global box office, reports Deadline. In essence, this creates history, since it will be the first R-rated film to cross this milestone. The report adds that the film’s global collection till Thursday stood at $999.1 million. [caption id=“attachment_7450861” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Joaquin Phoenix in a still from Joker | File Image[/caption] This makes the Joaquin Phoenix-starrer, the seventh film in 2019 (and the first which does not come from Disney or Marvel) to join the much-coveted billion dollar club. The Todd Phillips directorial will also be the fourth film from Warner Bros to make $1 billion worldwide, after Aquaman and other Batman films such as The Dark Knight (which incidentally won Heath Ledger a posthumous Oscar for his portrayal of the Joker) and the next film, The Dark Knight Rises. Other than North America, where Joker has surpassed the $300 million mark, the film has seen considerable box office profits in the United Kingdom ($68 million), Mexico ($43 million), South Korea ($38 million), Brazil ($34 million), and France ($38 million). Joker has also been declared  DC Films’ and Warner Bros’ most profitable comic book film of all time. The report also adds that the film is 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). In case the film manages to cross the $1 billion mark worldwide by next week, it will have become the cheapest film to do so. Joker offers a new take on the origin story of the rise of Batman’s maniacal arch-enemy, painting a dark portrayal of a would-be stand-up comedian’s descent into madness. Phillips had explained that the plot is more about how Joker becomes the man he came to be.  Joker also screened at Toronto International Film Festival and New York Film Festival before its opening in US theatres on 4 October.