Ryan Reynolds Had Choice Words For Joker Cast And Crew
Joker is officially the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, and the star of previous champ Deadpool had a couple of choice words about the development.
The reliably hilarious Ryan Reynolds took to Instagram to post a mock poster for Joker offering congrats on behalf of himself and, well, the subjects of past R-rated box office smashes. If you are at all familiar with Reynolds, you already have a pretty solid idea of what to expect, and we can say with certainty that you won't be disappointed. Fair warning: the image right below this sentence contains a very coarse, albeit censored, word.
Reynolds tagged Joker director Todd Phillips in the image, and captioned it with, "R-Rated box office congratulatory posts aren't like the ones you're used to." No, we should say not, and neither are congratulatory posts from Deadpool, whom we all know is a) kind of insane and b) in no way a fictional character as long as Reynolds is breathing. There are superhero actors who embody their roles, and then there is Reynolds, whom we are pretty certain sleeps in his costume and has an unhealthy relationship with his katanas.
For those keeping score at home, the movies Reynolds refers to at the bottom of the poster are, in order: Deadpool, The Matrix, It: Chapter One, The Passion of the Christ, Logan, The Hangover (which, incidentally, was directed by Joker helmer Todd Phillips), 50 Shades of Grey, and Ted.
"Highest-grossing R-rated movie ever" becomes the latest in a long line of superlatives bestowed upon the Joaquin Phoenix-starring Joker since its release, which already include "biggest October opener of all time," "Golden Lion award winner," and "odds-on Oscar favorite." Of course, since they have a slightly narrower audience, it's a little tougher for R-rated films to do the kind of bonkers box office that, say, Marvel Studios' PG-13 offerings often do; no R-rated flick has ever broken the billion-dollar mark at the worldwide box office, but Joker might very well be the first. In order to even get close, it's done away with some pretty formidable competition, as Reynolds pointed out in his uniquely smartass fashion.
Just how profitable were the movies Joker took down?
That's one heck of a slate of films that Wade — er, Reynolds made reference to on that poster, and being huge geeks, we decided to do a little digging to see just how much box office gold they represent. Let's take them in chronological order, starting with the oldest flick on the list, The Matrix.
It's interesting to note that the film came out about 20 years ago, and its total of just over $463 million dollars was enough to hand it the R-rated crown. It was also a bona fide pop culture phenomenon, spawning two sequels (with a third on the way) and a multimedia franchise that includes comic books, video games, and animated shorts — yet, it still couldn't crack the half-billion barrier. Adjusted for inflation, though, the total is closer to $700 million dollars.
Next on the list: 2004's The Passion of the Christ, which benefited from having a pretty sizable built-in audience and which also dominated the pop culture conversation in the year of its release. The flick cleaned up worldwide to the tune of $610 million dollars ($829 million adjusted for inflation), and it stayed on top for a surprisingly long time.
This is because the next two on the list only earned the title of highest-grossing R-rated comedy. The Hangover, released in 2009, scored a $468 million dollar worldwide gross, and it held the raunchy comedy crown until it was bested in 2012 by Seth McFarlane's Ted, which notched a $549 million dollar global take.
2015's Fifty Shades of Grey, while a huge hit, fell short of Passion's total by about $40 million dollars, making it an outlier on Reynolds' list. We're inclined to believe that he's well aware of this, and threw it in because he wanted to include a really popular movie with lots of steamy sex for a laugh. If you're unconvinced, we refer you to pretty much everything the guy has ever posted on Twitter.
It took 12 years and the first, long-awaited solo vehicle for the Merc with a Mouth to formally dethrone Jesus, as 2016's Deadpool smashed all kinds of records en route to a whopping $782 million dollar ($836 million adjusted) box office total. That film has technically worn the crown ever since, as the remaining two movies on Reynolds' list actually failed to knock it from its perch.
2017's It: Chapter One became the highest-grossing horror movie of all time (a title it still holds) with a $700 million dollar take, while Logan — the super-violent swan song for Reynolds' buddy Hugh Jackman's Wolverine — only managed $619 million dollars. Logan's inclusion on Reynolds' list was probably simply a shout-out to his friend — or, given how much the pair enjoy antagonizing each other, perhaps it was a mention of a more passive-aggressive variety. Logan didn't come close to matching the total of either Deadpool movie (2018's Deadpool 2 racked up just over $734 million dollars worldwide).
As of this writing, Joker has raked in an eye-watering $852 million dollars globally — and the flick has had some extremely long legs. It handily won its first two weekends, came very close to winning its next two (barely edged out by Disney's Maleficent: Mistress of Evil in both frames), and its per-weekend dropoff has been significantly less pronounced than most tentpole pictures, including fellow Worlds of DC titles like Aquaman (the only billion-dollar success for the franchise so far).
It seems only a matter of time before Joker goes barreling past the billion dollar mark, and it's tough to imagine that any movie will challenge it for the R-rated crown anytime soon. Even Deadpool 3, which is almost certainly in the works, and Matrix 4, which is definitely in the works, seem unlikely to score that big at the box office — but if the franchises were to team up, they just might pull it off. Don't try to tell us you know even a single person who wouldn't pay good money to see Deadpool Breaks the Matrix.