‘Joker,’ ‘Oppenheimer’ & the Top 10 R-Rated Movies of All Time

Domestic gross: $254.5 million

Release date: May 26,2011

Oscar nominations: none

Director: Todd Phillips

Music: Christophe Beck

Notes: This is the highest-grossing R-rated sequel to a comedy, surpassing Beverly Hills Cop II (1987). (Deadpool and its sequel have comedy elements, but are classified here as action films.) Development on this sequel began in April 2009, two months before The Hangover was released. Paul Giamatti joined the returning cast. The sequel tells the story of Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), Alan (Zach Galifianakis), and Doug (Justin Bartha) as they travel to Thailand for Stu’s wedding. Though you might have expected that they had learned their lesson from their misadventures in the first film, things go awry. (What are the odds?!)

While The Hangover was considered fresh and funny, The Hangover Part II received mixed to negative reviews. Still, it became a hit. A third and final installment, The Hangover Part III, was released on May 23, 2013. It did less well than the first two, grossing $112.2 million in the U.S.

Domestic gross: $277.3 million

Release date: June 5,2009

Oscar nominations: none

Director: Todd Phillips

Music: Christophe Beck

Notes: The Hangover was a critical and commercial success. It won the Golden Globe Award for best motion picture – musical or comedy, besting (500) Days of Summer, It’s Complicated, Julie & Julia and Nine. It became the highest-grossing R-rated comedy ever in the U.S., surpassing Beverly Hills Cop (1984), which had held the record for almost 25 years. Before that, it was held by National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978).

Boxofficemojo.com further classifies The Hangover as the top-rated “bawdy comedy.” The first two The Hangover films are followed on that list by Wedding Crashers, 22 Jump Street, There’s Something About Mary and Bridesmaids. The latter film seems like an all-female equivalent to The Hangover, in showing that women could be just as outrageous as men in going all out for laughs.

Domestic gross: $281.6 million

Release date: May 15,2003

Oscar nominations: none

Director: The Wachowskis

Music: Don Davis

Notes: The Wachowkis wrote and directed this science-fiction action film, which did even better than The Matrix (1999), which grossed $172.1 million domestically. Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving and Gloria Foster reprised their roles from the previous film, while Jada Pinkett Smith joined the cast. A sequel, The Matrix Revolutions, released six months later, grossed $139.3 million.

Lana Wachowsk and Lilly Wachowski wrote and directed the first three films in The Matrix franchise. The sisters are both trans women. Lana Wachowksi also directed the fourth film in the franchise, The Matrix Resurrections (2021). It did less well than the first three films, grossing $37.7 million domestically.

Domestic gross: $299.2 million

Release date: July 21,2023

Oscar nominations: to be determined

Director: Christopher Nolan

Music: Ludwig Göransson

Notes:This thriller was based on the 2005 biography American Prometheus, which chronicles the career of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. It’s the first of three films on this list that tell the stories of real-life historical figures. Still to come on the list: films about Iraq War sniper Chris Kyle and Jesus Christ.

Oppenheimer stars Cillian Murphy as the title character; Emily Blunt as his wife, “Kitty”; Matt Damon as Leslie Groves, head of the Manhattan Project; Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, a member of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission; and Florence Pugh as Jean Tatlock, a member of the Communist Party USA.

Oppenheimer is Nolan’s first film to receive an R-rating in the U.S. since Insomnia in 2002.

Domestic gross: $324.6 million

Release date: May 18, 2018

Oscar nominations: none

Director: David Leitch

Music: Tyler Bates                                                              

Notes:This is the highest-grossing R-rated sequel, topping The Matrix Reloaded. Plans for a sequel to Deadpool began before the original film’s release, and were confirmed in February 2016. Tim Miller, who directed the first Deadpool, left the project in October 2016 due to creative differences with star, co-producer and co-writer Ryan Reynolds, and was replaced by Leitch. An extensive casting search took place to fill the role of Cable, with Josh Brolin ultimately landing the role.

A sequel, Deadpool 3, which will integrate the character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is set for release on May 3, 2024.

Domestic gross: $328.9 million

Release date: Sept. 8, 2017

Oscar nominations: none

Director: Andy Muschietti

Music: Benjamin Wallfisch

Notes: It (titled onscreen as It Chapter One) was the first of a two-part adaptation of the 1986 novel of the same name by Stephen King. Set in Derry, Maine, the film stars Jaeden Lieberher and Bill Skarsgård. 

Director Muschietti has spoken of drawing inspiration from 1980s films such as The Howling (1981), The Thing (1982), The Goonies (1985), Stand by Me (1986) and Near Dark (1987), and cited the influence of Steven Spielberg. It is the highest-grossing horror film of all time, breaking a record that had been held since the 1970s by The Exorcist. The second film, It Chapter Two, was released on Sept. 6, 2019, covering the remaining story from the book. It was also a smash, grossing $211.6 million domestically.

Domestic gross: $335.5 million

Release date: Oct. 4, 2019

Oscar nominations: 11, including three for Todd Phillips (best picture, directing, adapted screenplay). 2 wins (best actor for Joaquin Phoenix, best original score)

Director: Todd Phillips

Music: Hildur Guðnadóttir

Notes:This is the third film on this list directed by Phillips, following the first two installments of The Hangover franchise. This film, based on DC Comics characters, stars Joaquin Phoenix as Joker. Set in 1981, it follows Arthur Fleck, a failed clown and aspiring stand-up comic who descends into mental illness and nihilism.

Phillips conceived Joker in 2016 and wrote the script with Scott Silver throughout 2017. The two were inspired by the films of Martin Scorsese. Joker is the first live-action theatrical Batman film to receive an R rating. A sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, with Lady Gaga joining the cast, is set for release on Oct. 4, 2024. Bradley Cooper, Gaga’s co-star in A Star Is Born, is co-producing Joker: Folie à Deux, as he did The Joker.

Domestic gross: $350.2 million

Release date: Dec. 25, 2014

Oscar nominations: 6 – best picture, best actor (Bradley Cooper), adapted screenplay, film editing, sound editing, sound mixing

Director: Clint Eastwood

Music: see note below

Notes: This film was loosely based on the memoir American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History (2012) by Chris Kyle, with Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice. Kyle became the deadliest marksman in U.S. military history with 255 kills from four tours of duty in the Iraq War. As the film illustrates, those tours took a heavy toll on Kyle’s personal and family life. The film stars Bradley Cooper as Kyle and Sienna Miller as his wife Taya.

There is no “Music by” credit on this film. Director Eastwood is credited as the composer of “Taya’s Theme.” Joseph S. DeBeasi is credited as composer of additional music and as music editor. The film also features Van Morrison’s “Someone Like You,” which plays during a wedding scene, and Ennio Morricone’s “The Funeral.”

Domestic gross: $363.1 million

Release date: Feb. 12, 2016

Oscar nominations: none

Director: Tim Miller

Music: Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL)

Notes: Deadpool stars Ryan Reynolds in the title role alongside Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T. J. Miller, Gina Carano and Brianna Hildebrand. In the film, Wade Wilson hunts the man who gave him mutant abilities and a scarred physical appearance, becoming the antihero Deadpool. This film marked Miller’s feature directorial debut.

Development of a Deadpool film starring Reynolds began in February 2004, five years before he played the character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. A sequel, Deadpool 2, was released in 2018 to comparable critical and commercial success. Deadpool 3, a third film starring Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, is scheduled for release on May 3, 2024.

Domestic gross: $370.8 million

Release date: Feb. 25, 2004

Oscar nominations: 3 – original score, cinematography, makeup

Director: Mel Gibson

Music: John Debney

Notes:  Gibson produced, directed and co-wrote this Biblical drama, which starred Jim Caviezel as Jesus of Nazareth; Maia Morgenstern as Mary, mother of Jesus; and Monica Bellucci as Mary Magdalene. The dialogue is entirely in reconstructed Aramaic, Hebrew, and Latin. Although Gibson was initially against it, the film is subtitled.

The film primarily covers the final 12 hours before Jesus Christ’s death, a period known as “the Passion.” Some regarded the film as a religious and holy experience, while others found it to be antisemitic and excessive in its graphic violence. A sequel is in development, centering on the resurrection of Jesus.