DC/WB Films/Worlds (No Spoilers)

[The Darknight Detective]

Joker is going to make 1 billion
Most profitable movie WB/DC has made

Most profitable CB film regardless of company. That's just amazing to me.

[mace11]

Anybody seen this?

WB Losing Out On Money From Joker As They Have To Split Profits

Joker Worried Warner Bros So Much, Studio Split Production Costs - And Profits
https://www.cbr.com/joker-warner-bro...costs-profits/

JOKER Was Considered Such A Risk By Warner Bros., They Split Production Costs...And Now Have To Split Profits!
https://www.comicbookmovie.com/joker...rofits-a171116

[Stromberg]

Pressure is definitely on BoP to make that kind of money with its small budget

I don't think there's any pressure on BoP to make as much money as Joker. I don't think anyone expects it to. It'll be profitable which is what WB wants. Anything beyond that is gravy.

[Colossus1980]

Pressure is definitely on BoP to make that kind of money with its small budget

No pressure at all on BoP to make Joker money. No other CBM will probably ever topple the profit Joker made on such a small budget.

[The Darknight Detective]

Anybody seen this?

Joker Worried Warner Bros So Much, Studio Split Production Costs - And Profits
https://www.cbr.com/joker-warner-bro...costs-profits/

JOKER Was Considered Such A Risk By Warner Bros., They Split Production Costs...And Now Have To Split Profits!
https://www.comicbookmovie.com/joker...rofits-a171116

That's just insanely stupid. There was no way it wasn't going to make a profit

[stargazer01]

That's just insanely stupid. There was no way it wasn't going to make a profit

It describes WB sometimes... of course Joker was going to make a profit if the movie was any good regardless of tone and violence.

BOP doesn't have to be as big, just be good and successful. Not every movie turns out into a phenomenon. Some do for different reasons. Joker was the first R rated DC movie with hard violence and audiences really liked it. That's not always easy to predict.

[The Darknight Detective]

It describes WB sometimes... of course Joker was going to make a profit if the movie was any good regardless of tone and violence.

I mean, it would have at least broke even even with Will Ferrell starring in it.

BOP doesn't have to be as big, just be good and successful. Not every movie turns out into a phenomenon. Some do for different reasons. Joker was the first R rated DC movie with hard violence and audiences really liked it. That's not always easy to predict.

I agree. Just make enough money to make more films and I'm happy.

[Jim Kelly]

I also wonder if the whole "lifestyles of the rich and wealthy" doesn't have as much appeal to China. Though admittedly I know very little about that.

China's population is 1.4 billion, so by number it probably has more crazy, rich people than America, but per capita it has much less. After all, the wealth of the mercantile class is built on the suffering of the poor. The reason China is able to make so much money is because the labouring class is so large and so underpaid. They will never be able to enjoy a middle class lifestyle--and they are working under such terrible conditions that their life expectancy is short. The degree of suffering and misery is far greater than the degree of material enjoyment. I don't doubt that the people who can afford the movies enjoy seeing material excess, but they probably want to feel good about themselves, not bad--and maybe a movie like CRAZY RICH ASIANS calls into question a cold disregard for the have-nots.

[Holt]

That's just insanely stupid. There was no way it wasn't going to make a profit

The company was extremely rattled when BVS didn't make as much money as they anticipated and had poor box office legs, and the lesson they took away from that was that people didn't like it because it was too dark (Rather than the very real possibility of people not liking it because they thought it wasn't very good). We saw this in the way Suicide Squad was subsequently gutted in the editing room to make it more lighthearted and family friendly, as well as the way the original script for Justice League was thrown out and rewritten from scratch to be more light and "fun" (and then of course, came the reshoots and Snyder's exit from the franchise).

After that, not only was them being hesitant about a bleak R-rated Joker movie not surprising, but what's actually more surprising is that they let it get made period. Especially when, as the director noted, the Joker is still a character WB actively markets to young children.

[The Darknight Detective]

The company was extremely rattled when BVS didn't make as much money as they anticipated and had poor box office legs, and the lesson they took away from that was that people didn't like it because it was too dark (Rather than the very real possibility of people not liking it because they thought it wasn't very good). We saw this in the way Suicide Squad was subsequently gutted in the editing room to make it more lighthearted and family friendly, as well as the way the original script for Justice League was thrown out and rewritten from scratch to be more light and "fun" (and then of course, came the reshoots and Snyder's exit from the franchise).

After that, not only was them being hesitant about a bleak R-rated Joker movie not surprising, but what's actually more surprising is that they let it get made period. Especially when, as the director noted, the Joker is still a character WB actively markets to young children.

If it had a big budget, sure, but 55 million? That's going to make a profit, whatever the negatives.

[Holt]

If it had a big budget, sure, but 55 million? That's going to make a profit, whatever the negatives.

Sure, but like I just said, this is not a company known for thinking rationally. They were running scared after the reception to BVS and came into the mindset that audiences don't like dark movies (even though you had Logan released just a year later to great reception), and thus were hesitant to pursue a project like Joker.

[Bloxer]

I'd be way more impressed with Joker making so much if the director didn't just slap the Joker name on it and add superficial Batman references to an otherwise unrelated movie.

[The Darknight Detective]

Sure, but like I just said, this is not a company known for thinking rationally. They were running scared after the reception to BVS and came into the mindset that audiences don't like dark movies (even though you had Logan released just a year later to great reception), and thus were hesitant to pursue a project like Joker.

I hear you, but that was a major overreaction. Whoever greenlighted splitting the production costs knows it now, too.

[Tec15]

You people do realize that WB goes for co-financing for almost all off it's movies? And not just to minimize risk in a particular movie, but also to get access to other movies that the co financiers have the rights to?

See here: "Our agents at WME came to us and said, "Hey, would you like to get involved with the new Joker movie?" And we’re like, "Seriously? A DC property? There’s no way they could need our money." Of course, agents being agents, they sort of left out the key component to this, which was: Everybody wants the Joker. What do you have to offer?"

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ne...r-bros-1210226

Of course, a clickbait headline from such doyens of journalism such as comicbookmovie and cbr mangling original reporting from the NY Times, is all the context anyone here needs.

[The Darknight Detective]

You people do realize that WB goes for co-financing for almost all off it's movies? And not just to minimize risk in a particular movie, but also to get access to other movies that the co financiers have the rights to?

See here: "Our agents at WME came to us and said, "Hey, would you like to get involved with the new Joker movie?" And we’re like, "Seriously? A DC property? There’s no way they could need our money." Of course, agents being agents, they sort of left out the key component to this, which was: Everybody wants the Joker. What do you have to offer?"

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ne...r-bros-1210226

Of course, a clickbait headline from such doyens of journalism such as comicbookmovie and cbr mangling original reporting from the NY Times, is all the context anyone here needs.

Well, I did say it would be nuts for WB to have done it - turns out I was right.