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Second massive weekend for 'Joker' means it could hit $1 billion

Joaquin Phoenix in Joker (Credit: Warner Bros)
Joaquin Phoenix in Joker (Credit: Warner Bros)

Joaquin Phoenix's Joker movie could potentially haul in $1 billion (nearly £800 million) at the box office, following a second blockbusting weekend.

Analysts reckoned that its second weekend would bring in around $48 million (£38 million) at the US box office, but it brought in $55 million (£43 million).

That brings it to $192.7 million in the US in two weeks, and $351.2 million worldwide, bringing the grand total to $543.9 million (£433.3 million) in all, with £12.3 million coming from the UK.

Read more: Anger over Gary Glitter song in Joker

It's a pretty hefty feat for a movie with a restricted certificate to haul in figures like this, with an R-rating in the US and a 15 rating over here.

For some perspective, the R-rated Deadpool, a huge success at the box office, made $783 million over several weeks on release, a figure easily in Joker's sights, with Deadpool 2 making $785 million last year.

The number one R-rated movie of all time is Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, according to Box Office Mojo, which when adjusted for inflation made $831 million.

Joker's haul is all the more impressive for the Warner Bros studio because, despite being nominally in the superhero universe, it cost a relatively tiny $65 million to make.

Joaquin Phoenix in Joker (Credit: Warner Bros)
Joaquin Phoenix in Joker (Credit: Warner Bros)

For better or worse, controversy surrounding the film will likely have helped bump up its performance at the box office too.

It's been criticised for portraying a violent, angry loner at a time when mass shootings are at epidemic levels in the US.

Read more: Joker makes £200 million on its opening weekend

The families of the victims of the mass cinema shooting in Aurora, Colorado, in 2012, signed a letter to Warner Bros asking it to show more 'social responsibility' with gun violence in its movies.

Star Joaquin Phoenix, who plays unhinged stand-up comedian Arthur Fleck in the movie, walked out of an interview with the Daily Telegraph after he was questioned on whether the film's violence could inspire real-life incidents.

Joker is out now across the UK.