It's official, guys. Joaquin Phoenix's star turn as Arthur Fleck in Joker has seen the film become the most profitable comic book movie of all time.
Take that, Marvel.
After just five weeks in the cinemas, Phoenix's dark, yet compelling, portrayal of the Clown Prince of Crime in his formative steps has taken around $955m worldwide.
Of course, films have earned more at the box office, but when you consider that this film had a production budget of $62.5 and it has taken 15.3 times that back in theatres, it is - in terms of budget vs gross - more profitable than the lot.
In fact, the list doesn't actually include some of the big hitters that you might think it does.There are some real left-field movies in the budget vs gross profitability selection.
Remember The Mask? Of course you do.
Well, Jim Carrey's ridiculous flick took in $351m from a $23m budget in 1994.
Meanwhile, with the comic book movies, Venom, despite being something of a critical flop, was incredibly successful at the box office. From their budget of $90m, they brought in $854m.
Not bad going. Enough to merit a sequel, at the very least.
Batman (the Tim Burton version), Deadpool, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles all feature on the list. Without boggling everyone's mind with numbers, they all vastly outstripped their budget in takings at the cinemas.
That's the long and short of it.
Another thing that makes the rise of Joker to the top of the list so remarkable is that it has never been released in China, it is - definitely correctly - R-Rated.
That means that despite a large number of people in the world not having been able to see it, they still turned out in their droves to catch it.
It's every studio's dream, basically.
Oh, and awards season hasn't even started yet.
So, with the numbers at where they are now, it seems as if the $1bn mark is a shoe-in.
It would take something incredibly dramatic and unexpected for the numbers to plummet enough to make them not crash through the barrier.
Sure, Avengers: Endgame did it, but that was a massive budget flagship production. Joker looks set to do that on a fraction of the budget, with a heck of a lot more chance of garnering some critical acclaim along the way.
Either way, Todd Phillips, Joaquin Phoenix, Warner Brothers, and DC films have a lot to shout about.
Featured Image Credit: Warner Bros.Topics: World News, TV and Film, US News, UK Entertainment, US Entertainment