White Rage Against the Hollywood Machine
In a victory for America's disenfranchised young white men, Todd Phillips’ Joker is #1 at the box office with an estimated $93.5 million. Industry estimates put it at $80-90 million, but they underestimated the power of dateless dudes with money to burn.
"Who knew that a movie about a homicidal clown could get incels off of their computers and out of their basements?" asked Paul Dergabaridian, Senior Analyst for Filmtrak. "Well, I guess everyone, but this is still a big win for Warner Bros."
The R-rated Warner Bros. film follows the ascent of downtrodden Arthur Fleck from bullied outcast to Travis Bickle cosplaying Bozo. Along the way, we meet such characters as talk-show host Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro), would-be girlfriend Sophie Dumond (Zazie Beetz), and Baby Bruce Wayne (Dante Pereira-Olson). But it was clearly Joker that everyone wanted to see, and … they kind of get their wish? (Minor Spoiler: he only appears in the film’s final act).
Still, white men gave the film an A++ CinemaScore, while all others gave it still respectable A-. Police report no fatalities over the weekend, but are content with the overtime pay.
“Hey, I wasn’t hoping that anyone would die, but it’s a bit of a let-down, you know?” stated Sergeant Jack Olson of the Los Angeles Police Department. “It’s like I strapped on my vest and loaded my gun for nothing.” Although no one shot up any movie theaters, they probably shot plenty of loads into their pants. “Best film of all time,” proclaimed Boston 19-year-old Keith Medger. “Joaquin is in beast mode, and that chick from Deadpool was pretty hot.”
Others were less pleased. Said single homemaker “Betty Brown” (not her real name), “I was disappointed there weren’t stronger roles for women. Where was Batgirl? On study-abroad or something?”
The rest of the box office was just holdovers from last week, so we won’t report their numbers. Now it remains to be seen if Fox Searchlight’s Jojo Rabbit can attract the coveted white supremacist demographic.
Anyway, have fun discussing this in the comments.
Satire by Matt Foley (Reuters)