I‘ll refrain from “laughs all the way ...” jokes.

So, yes, “Joker”’s $93.5 million domestic haul is the biggest opening ever in October, beating out last year's supervillain movie, “Venom,” by about $13 million. But it's also the biggest opening ever for a movie starring Joaquin Phoenix. It beats out “Signs,” which opened to $60 million in 2002, “The Village” ($50 in 2004) and “Gladiator” ($34.8 in 2000).

As you go down that list, the thing you notice is no recent movies. Nothing this decade. We get movies from the 1980s (“Space Camp” and “Parenthood”) before anything from the past 10 years. All of this unadjusted. 

Made me wonder: Did “Joker”'s opening beat the openings to all of Joaquin's 2010s movies combined? Yes, and it's not even close. His previous 10 movies opened to a total of $2 million. Not average. Total.

That made me wonder: Did “Joker”'s three days beat the entire domestic box office of Joaquin's other 2010s output? Check it out. 

Some good movies in there, too. Three (“The Master,” “Her” and “Inherent Vice”) would be in the discussion for best movies of the decade. “The Master,” at least, would be in my discussion.

Haven't seen “Joker” yet but know the controversy. Interestingly, this argument (violence begets...) used to come from the right. Now it's the left.

It did well abroad, too: another $140 million. I guess some people don't want anything logical; some people just want to watch the world burn. 

Elsewhere, “Hustlers” made enough $6.3 and is at $91, while “It Chapter Two” crossed the $200 million rubicon with another $5.3. I like that “Good Boys” is still out there. It finished 10th, adding another $900k for $83.