Anyone want to see a magic trick? Okay, wrong Joker, but the Joaquin Phoenix incarnation, as shown in Joker, continues to thrive despite even more competition. The film managed to jump back to the top spot at the US box office this weekend, despite a close tie with Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil, which is in its second week of release. And the final box office figures could tell a different story from these estimates. Still, according to the current tally, Joker scraped a win with $18.9 million.
Also this week, the film has become the highest-grossing R-rated release in the States with $277.5 million in the bank, which earned a snarky congratulatory tweet from Deadpool himself, Ryan Reynolds.
Maleficent's sequel outing, meanwhile, made do with $18.5 million, slipping to second place. The animated Addams Family actually rose one spot to third, adding $11.7 million, swapping places with Zombieland: Double Tap, down to fourth with $11.6 million. "But Empire," you ask, "what of actual new releases?" Sadly, for that, you have to delve as deep as fifth place, where horror pic Countdown landed with $9 million. The clock's ticking on how long it'll stay in the charts.
Still, that was a better result than cop thriller Black And Blue, which arrived in sixth via $8.3 million. That was still better than the sputtering Gemini Man, down to seventh on $4 million.
Robert Eggers' new indie psycho-horror The Lighthouse expanded its release, jumping to eighth thanks to a $3 million haul. The Current War: Director's Cut looked to light up some screens, and managed $2.7 million, while Abominable was down to 10th with $2 million.