Joker On Track To Make Nearly As Much Profit As Avengers: Infinity War

It's not unusual for superhero movies to make big money at the box office--Avengers: Endgame became the biggest movie of all time this year, and Captain Marvel and Spider-Man: Far From Home were also huge hits. But what makes the success of DC's Joker so remarkable is the fact that the budget was so much less than any of these films, and it's now been reported that it could end up as profitable as last year's Avengers: Infinity War.

According to Deadline, it has been estimated that Joker is on course to make a total profit of $464 million from theatrical, home entertainment, and TV sales. The movie is expected to hit a worldwide box office of $825 million this weekend, and could potentially reach $900 million by the time it leaves theaters. Once all the numbers are in, its profit will be close to Infinity War's $500 million.

The big difference is that while Infinity War grossed a total of $2.04 billion, it was a far more expensive movie, both in terms of production budget and marketing costs. Joker's production budget was only $70 million, with an extra $120 million spent on marketing and a total of $97 million on things like profit participation and its home entertainment rollout. Conversely, Deadline states that Infinity War's total spend was a huge $500 million, more than $200 million that Joker's, cutting far more into its profits. You can see the full Infinity War profit breakdown here.

Joker is currently the eighth biggest movie of the year, having already broken the record for the most successful R-rated film of all time. It is also the sixth most successful DC movie ever, having recently overtaken 2016's Suicide Squad, and could overtake Wonder Women this weekend to claim fifth place behind Aquaman, The Dark Knight Rises, The Dark Knight, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

In related news, it was reported this week that Jared Leto, who played Joker in Suicide Squad, wasn't happy that the new Joker movie was put into development while he was technically still cast in the role. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Leto complained to his agents and asked one of his managers to get Warner to kill the Joker movie.