Warner Bros.' "Joker" topped the October opening-weekend box office record, bringing in $93.5 million despite security concerns over the film's violent themes, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The big picture: The film received stellar praise during its film festival debuts but sparked a backlash from some critics over whether its portrayal of the Batman series' villain — an outcast with a neurological deficit who becomes a mass murderer — could inspire violence. Most notably, families of the victims of the 2012 shooting at a screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, Colorado — another Batman film — penned a letter to the studio citing concerns about the film.