'Joker' scores an October 2nd weekend record at the box office, while 'Gemini Man' bombs

Warner Bros.

"Joker."

• "Joker" won the domestic box office for a second-straight weekend.
• It brought in an estimated $55 million, the best week two performance ever by a movie released in October.
• "Gemini Man" came in third place, earning only $20.5 million.
• The movie's budget was $138 million.
• Neon's "Parasite" brought in $376,264 on three screens and had a per-screen average of $125,421, the best average of any movie this year.
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Warner Bros. has got something special with "Joker." The super serious (and ultra violent) origin story of DC Comics' greatest villain continues to put up record-breaking numbers for October.

After having the biggest opening weekend for the month last weekend, in its second go around "Joker" brought in an estimated $55 million. That's just a measly 43% drop from last weekend and an October record for best week two performance, topping the studio's release of "Gravity" ($43.1 million) in 2013.

Budgeted around $55 million (north of $60 million when you count marketing), "Joker" now has a global cume to date of over $540 million. WB is raking in the money!

Read more: Kevin Smith rekindled his friendship with Ben Affleck thanks to a private jet and getting "ghosted" by Snoop Dogg

But while Warner Bros. soaks in the fruits of its labor, across town Paramount is in full crisis mode with "Gemini Man."

Will Smith's latest movie, which showcased technological feats rarely seen in theaters, was supposed to be a worthy adversary to "Joker," but the Ang Lee movie didn't put up much of a fight.

"Gemini Man" came in third place (United Artists' "The Addams Family" came in second with $30.2 million) only bringing in $20.5 million this weekend. That's below its industry projections and setting the stage for Paramount and the other companies that shared the financial burden (Skydance Media, Fosun Pictures, and Alibaba) to potentially lose millions as the movie cost $138 million to make.

Whether it was its tired story, which had been floating around in development for almost 20 years, or the decision by Lee to shoot it in the high frame rate of 120 frame per second, which gives the picture a sharpness audiences aren't huge fans of yet (it's so advanced no theater in the US could show it the way Lee intended), nothing worked for "Gemini Man."

Now Paramount, whose biggest earner in 2019 is the Elton John biopic "Rocketman" with over $195 million earned worldwide, will put its hopes in "Terminator: Dark Fate" (opening November 1) providing a lift for the studio to close out the year.

Meanwhile on the arthouse side, Neon's "Parasite" showed that the hype is real for the latest movie by Bong Joon-Ho ("Snowpiercer," "Okja"). Playing in only three theaters this weekend, it brought in $376,264 and had a per-screen average of $125,421. That's the best screen average of any movie this year. It's also the highest per-screen average since 2016's "La La Land."