Photo: WARNER BROS
“Joker” broke box office records, even as its controversial depiction of violence made some moviegoers anxious.
The Warner Bros. film is about the origins of the crazed Batman nemesis and has raked in an estimated $93.5 million in North America this weekend.
"Joker" is the largest opening for Warner Bros. this year as well as one of the biggest openings for a R-rated film. It made $234 million worldwide.
The film, which comes from the Warner Bros.' lucrative DC Entertainment brand, has been one of the most talked-about movies of the year. It stars Joaquin Phoenix as Joker, a troubled man who turns into a killer.
The murderous clown's indiscriminate violence has put critics and authorities on edge.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security warned law enforcement ahead of the movie's Thursday night opening about a number of threats to moviegoers that were posted online. Some of the threats called for mass shootings at showings of "Joker." Warner Bros., which like CNN is owned by Warner Media, has said that the film is not "an endorsement of real-world violence of any kind."
"Warner Bros. believes that one of the functions of storytelling is to provoke difficult conversations around complex issues," a statement from the studio said last month. "It is not the intention of the film, the filmmakers or the studio to hold this character up as a hero."