The 10-Digit Club

Warner Bros. drama Joker crossed $1B globally on Friday, becoming the seventh film of 2019 to do so.

But unlike the other six titles , all of which were considered guaranteed or likely billion-dollar films — Avengers: Endgame, The Lion King, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Captain Marvel, Toy Story 4, and Aladdin — virtually nobody predicted Joker reaching that mark.

According to WB, Joker is now the studio’s highest-earning film ever in 25 markets, and the highest grossing DC film ever in 43 markets.

The film has earned $696.0M overseas, for a $1.018B global total. That’s especially impressive considering it has not been released in China.

Its top five overseas markets to date are the U.K. with $70.1M, France with $43.9M, Mexico with $43.3M, Japan with $43.0M, and Germany wth $37.8M.

Off to the Races

The Disney/Fox sports drama Ford v. Ferrari revved up to first place with $31.4M. That’s about in line with pre-release expectations, which had it in the $27M to $32M range.

According to studio estimates, the audience demographics were 62% male and 34% over age 45. Makes sense, as both of the film’s two lead characters were male and over 45, played by Christian Bale and Matt Damon.

Read our interview with director James Mangold.

Don’t Call Me Angel

Sony’s action-comedy reboot Charlie’s Angels looks to be one of the biggest bombs of 2019, hardly heavenly with third place and only $8.3M.

While pre-release projections weren’t high to begin with, at $11M to $15M, they were universally higher than the reality.

For comparison, 2000’s Charlie’s Angels and 2003’s sequel Full Throttle opened to far higher $40.1M and $37.6M opening weekends, respectively.

Keep in mind those figures are not adjusted for ticket price inflation. The reboot’s comparisons look even worse with its predecessors’ inflation-adjusted openings: $67.7M and $56.8M, respectively.

Overseas, the reboot started with $19.4M for a $27.7M global weekend.

Pants on Fire

Warner Bros.’ drama The Good Liar started with a decent $5.6M start in seventh place.

That’s about in line with pre-release projections, in the $5M to $9M range.

According to studio estimates, the audience was 60% female and 64% over age 50. (The lead actor and actress Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren.)

The film, which debuted overseas ahead of its domestic release, has earned $3.8M overseas for $9.4M globally.

Limited Releases

Neon’s thriller Parasite reached its highest theater count yet, with 620 screens in its sixth weekend. The film declined -28.1% to $1.8M.

Fox Searchlight’s historical comedy Jojo Rabbit also reached its highest theater count yet, with 995 screens in its fifth weekend. The film declined -30.1% to $2.7M.

A24’s Waves had the weekend’s best per-screen average, debuting with $134,333 on four screens, for a $33,583 average.

A fun fact

Disney’s Maleficent: Mistress of Evil took ninth place with $4.9M — exactly $4.9M. The film’s weekend gross was precisely $4,900,000. It’s been a long time since a wide release’s weekend gross ended with that many consecutive zeroes.

How’d This Weekend Compare?

Total box office this weekend was $108.3M. That’s -10.6% below last weekend and -37.9% below this same weekend last year, when Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald led with $62.1M.

The Year So Far

Year-to-date box office stands at $9.60B. That’s -6.4% behind this same date last year, down from -6.3% after last weekend.

The post Weekend Box Office Key Insights: <em>Joker</em> Tops $1B Globally, <em>Ford v Ferrari</em> Pedal to the Metal w/ $31.4M appeared first on Boxoffice.