Joker Takes #1 Spot On Opening Weekend, Squashes Records Set By Venom, Justice League

The box office weekend gross saw an end to the previous record set by Venom for October opening as Todd Phillips' thriller film 'Joker' debuted with $96.2 million for the month's biggest gross ever.

Besides notching atop the weekend chart by taking down Universal film 'Abominable', it went on the international market to haul in $152.2 million for a global cume that total at $248.4 million.

However, it did not just outperform Venom, which recorded $80 million on opening weekend last year, it squashed record set by Justice League's domestic opening gross ($93.8m) to be the fourth-largest domestic opening for an R-rated film. It trails Deadpool ($132.4m), Deadpool 2 (125.5m) and It ($123.4m) in all-time biggest opening R-rated films.

The biggest contributor to the film's performance in the international market was South Korea ($16.3m) followed by the United Kingdom with $14.8m for the biggest in Europe. Also amongst the biggest contributor is Mexico ($13.1m), Russia ($10m), Brazil ($7.3m) and Japan ($7m)

Having said that, Joaquin Phoenix who starred as Arthur Affleck, a psychopathic villain character based on DC comic received positive reviews but the violent act of the character is feared by its audience that it could inspire a real-life scenario. Nevertheless, it was such a huge success over the weekend.

Following Joker in the chart is Universal's 'Abominable' which dropped 42.2 percent in domestic performance to gross $11.9 million in the second weekend. Its international cume total at $40.1 million for a global gross of $77.8 million.