In 2019, 'Joker' became a historic blockbuster by becoming the first R-rated film to gross over $1 billion. Unlike traditional comic book movies, 'Joker' was a character study inspired by 1970s cinema rather than a CGI-heavy action film. Directed by Todd Phillips and starring Joaquin Phoenix, the film's success proved that mature, adult-oriented stories based on popular intellectual property could achieve the same massive financial scale as family-friendly blockbusters. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and earned 11 Academy Award nominations, bridging the gap between high-art prestige and commercial blockbuster dominance.