A dual dose of Will Smith and the combined efforts of the world's creepiest, kookiest family wasn't enough to dethrone Joker this weekend, as the dark take on the villain's story continued to show a strong performance at the US box office. The Joaquin Phoenix-starring film earned $55 million this weekend, according to studio estimates.
That represents a 42% drop, which marks an impressive hold for a film some worried would be too dark for general audiences. And the international story is a similar one, with the drama up to $543.9 million worldwide after just a couple of weeks.
The new, animated version of The Addams Family takes the characters back to their Charles Addams-designed style, and the new release earned $30.2 million. There was far less cheery news for *Gemini Man*, Ang Lee's latest attempt to convince us all that the high frame rate cinematography is a good idea. It didn't exactly sell itself this time, the action thriller earning $20.5 million in the US and a hair less than $60 million internationally.
Elsewhere, Abominable suffered because of the new 'toon competition, falling to fourth for $6.1 million, while Downton Abbey slipped again, rounding out the top five on $4.9 million.
Hustlers slipped to sixth and $3.8 million, while Judy earned $3.25 million and It: Chapter Two made $3.22 million. You have to head down to ninth place for the week's third new arrival, phone OS comedy Jexi, which opened with $3.1 million. Finally, in 10th, Ad Astra added $1.9 million for a $42.9 million US total to date.