During Joker’s remarkable and record-breaking run, it has passed many other films at the 2019 box office that on paper it should have never even come close to. One of those films is Disney’s Aladdin. Itself a bit of a box office surprise, the PG-rated, four-quadrant, live-action remake of Disney’s beloved animated classic made over $1 billion at the box office and the dark, R-rated Joker still passed it. Now Joker has another 2019 Disney movie in its sights.
Aladdin was bigger than anyone expected making $1.050 billion worldwide. Yet, as if Will Smith’s Genie granted an outlandish wish to rival studio Warner Bros., the hugely popular and controversial Joker made an even more ludicrous $1.055 billion according to Box Office Mojo. That puts it within striking distance of Pixar’s animated sequel Toy Story 4, which made $1.073 billion worldwide over the course of its run.
So that puts Joker roughly $18 million away from going to infinity and beyond Buzz Lightyear and Woody at the 2019 box office. It’s a truly remarkable feat considering the box office might of Disney and the track record and strength of Pixar’s crown jewel property. Especially when you factor in Joker’s hard-R rating and the fact that it did not open in the lucrative Chinese market, where Aladdin made $53.48 million and Toy Story 4 earned $29.10 million.
If the Joaquin Phoenix film does manage to leg it out to over $1.073 billion, toppling Toy Story 4, it will enter into the top five biggest films worldwide on the year, at least until Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits to knock everything sans Avengers: Endgame and maybe The Lion King down a peg. Plus Frozen II is still on the rise with $1 billion inevitable.
As of now, Joker sits at number six on the worldwide box office charts with $332.11 million domestic and $723.6 million internationally. Whether it can manage to pass Toy Story 4 we’ll have to wait and see. Part of Joker’s strength has been its modest week-to-week drops and continuing presence in the top 10 at the domestic box office. But all films run out of steam eventually and this past weekend Joker finally dropped out of the top 10 to number 11 with a little over $1 million.
There are a ton of new films on the way too, with Jumanji and Star Wars entering the fray, not to mention all of the buzzy awards contenders, so Joker will have its work cut out for it. Even if Joker passes Toy Story 4, it would have a long way to go to pass the next film on the worldwide charts. Captain Marvel sits in the number four spot worldwide with $1.12 billion. Therefore Joker would need another $73 million or so to match it.
Aquaman’s status as the most successful DC movie with $1.14 billion is probably safe for now, but Joker’s accomplishments continue to amaze. And while Joker is nearing the end of its box office run, it still has quite a few dollars in its future. That’s because Joker arrives on digital just in time for the holidays on December 17, followed by a proper physical release on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD on January 7.
Check out all of the movies headed to theaters next year in our 2020 Release Schedule and for the latest movie news, stay tuned to CinemaBlend.
