'Joker' Scores Impressive $94 Million In Weekend Debut, Modest $17 Million In TV Spend

Warner Bros.’ “Joker” produced the biggest theatrical U.S. box-office revenue results ever for October -- all with a relatively modest TV marketing spend.

The film, which premiered this past weekend, spent $16.9 million in national/regional TV spending, airing commercials 2,242 times since September 2 and totaling some 1.02 billion impressions, according to iSpot.tv,

All that pushed U.S. box-office results to a massive $94 million. Worldwide, the movie pulled in $234 million over the weekend.

Much of the movie’s ad efforts went into NFL and college-football programming. NBC took in an estimated $4.4 million overall from the movie; Fox, $2.5 million; ESPN, $1.6 million; and CBS, $1.3 million.

Typical wide-released theatrical movies allot $27.4 million in marketing spend, according to a Neustar study conducted earlier this year, with 82%, or $22.5 million, going toward TV. 

The research says 44% of average wide-release box-office results are attributed to overall paid-media efforts -- 56% come from earned media, including public relations, movie talent and other factors.

Year to date, U.S. box-office revenue through October 6 was down 5.5% to $8.6 billion, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.

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