‘Joker’ tops int’l box office, Chinese populates rest of top five

Image: courtesy of Warner Bros. France via AFP Relaxnews

Supervillain origin story “Joker” accumulated $234 million at the worldwide box office over the weekend ending Oct. 6, per industry tracker ComScore, with China’s “My People, My Country”, “The Captain”, “The Climbers” and Chinese-American co-production “Abominable” making up the rest of the globe’s top five.

Warner Bros’ “Joker” took a combined $234 million over its opening weekend, putting it at the top of the global box office over the same time period.

Hollywood’s latest comic book conversion received $93.5 million came from its domestic market, with $140.5 million received in international revenue, according to ComScore’s worldwide box office estimates for the weekend ending Oct. 6.

The R-rated film now holds the title for the United States’ biggest October opening, after Spider-Man spin-off “Venom” made $80 million in 2018.

Though the $93.5 million opener nudged ahead of last month’s R-rated “It: Chapter Two”, September 2017’s Stephen King adaptation “It” retains the title of Fall’s biggest domestic opening weekend at $123 million.

Chinese or joint-Chinese made films were responsible for the rest of the top five, despite a reduced number of territories debuting each movie.

Running to almost two hours, “My People, My Country” ($100.6 million) is a seven-part anthology film with an all-star cast, released on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.

Airplane accident drama “The Captain”, which is about a Chinese pilot’s successful landing of a damaged passenger plane, accumulated $100.4 million, making it the weekend’s third highest-grosser worldwide.

A $36 million take for U.S.-Chinese animated adventure “Abominable”, which begins in Shanghai and ends on Chinese-Nepalese peak Mount Everest, was enough to place it fourth worldwide, with “The Climbers” (fifth place, $30 million) based on historical Chinese expeditions up the same Himalayan summit.

Here are the weekend’s top 10 movies at the world’s box-office:

1. Joker ($234 million worldwide weekend, $234 million worldwide total)

2. My People, My Country ($100.6 million, $286.9 million)

3. The Captain ($100.4 million, $250.5 million)

4. Abominable ($36.6 million, $76.3 million)

5. The Climbers ($30 million, $106.6 million)

6. Downton Abbey ($14.6 million, $135.4 million)

7. Ad Astra ($11.9 million, $111.4 million)

8. It Chapter Two ($11 million, $436.7 million)

9. Hustlers ($8.2 million, $110 million)

10. Rambo: Last Blood ($7.8 million, $74.4 million)
JB

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