It's not even close.

Joker's worldwide box office earnings hit a total of of $999.1 million on Thursday. So if it hasn't happened already, it's going to be official by the end of the weekend: Jokerwill become the first R-rated movie in Hollywood history with a $1 billion box office.

The movie already made history earlier in 2019 when its box office total climbed past $900 million – another first for the R-rated category. But $1 billion is a much nicer, rounder figure, right?

This was bound to happen at some point, given the fact that box office totals are forever rising as a result of inflation. But it's telling the next-highest R-rated box office winner after Jokeris The Matrix Reloaded($828.8 million), which released in 2003. Not even recent smash hits like Deadpool, Deadpool 2, and It – all of which earned more than $700 million worldwide – came close.

There's still just a big barrier for R-rated movies to achieve the kind of box office success that more crowd-pleasing options can deliver. Having to leave the kids at home for a trip to the movies isn't an appealing option for families in most cases, and that cuts out a large portion of the moviegoing population.

Jokeralso faced the arguable box office obstacle of a pre-release controversy around its star treatment of a villainous character. I say "arguable" because, for one, movie content controversies always seem louder online than they actually are. What's more, the same "oh no, it's controversial" concerns that led to a police presence at certain theaters can also work to build hype.

The more likely driver of Joker's success is the overall bankability of a movie exploring the origin of Batman's arch-nemesis. Especially coming at a time when interest in comic book-adjacent storytelling is at an all-time high. Joker, with its "serious" star in Joaquin Phoenix and its grounded tone, seems to sell itself on being a smarter and less spectacle-driven comic book-ish tale.

[h/t The Hollywood Reporter]

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