Joker: A Folie à Deux, the genre-busting sequel to the billion-dollar comic book hit, underperformed at the box office despite opening at No. 1 with $40 million.
Domestic ticket sales for this discrepancy were lower than initial projections of $50 million to $65 million. That range had already been revised downward in subsequent weeks after Joker 2 entered pre-release tracking for $70 million. The opening weekend box office gross was significantly lower than its 2019 predecessor “Joker,” which set an October record with a staggering $96.2 million on the same weekend five years ago. As for Folie à Deux, this is a disappointing start for Warner Bros. considering the original’s huge success and the reality that poor reception will likely hurt its staying power on screen. This is a problem because the R-rated sequel costs a hefty $200 million (the first film was made in trim $65 million). So Folie à Deux needs to generate at least $450 million to break even, according to sources familiar with the film’s finances.
“When you greenlight a sequel, you expect it to have the same effect as the first movie,” says Jeff Bock, an analyst at Exhibitor Relations. “This is certainly a concern. Warner wanted a sequel, but probably overspent to make it happen.”
Joker was supposed to be a standalone movie. But this R-rated standout went on to become one of the most profitable comic book movies of all time, earning Phoenix an Oscar. And, after all, this is Hollywood. Warner Bros. de-risked Joker by co-financing and producing an unconventional take on the superhero movie with Bron Creative and Village Roadshow, but the studio also had to split the profits. Ta. Warners is the sole investor in the sequel.
The original Joker was a surprise hit, grossing $335 million domestically and $743 million overseas, making it the highest-grossing R-rated film in history at the time. (Deadpool & Wolverine broke that record this summer with $1.32 billion). However, with critics and audiences not liking the film, it may be difficult for follow-up films to break even. It received a 33% “rotten” rating on the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes and a D Cinema Score from moviegoers. The quiet buzz surrounding “Folie à Deux” began at the Venice Film Festival, where “Joker” won the festival’s top prize in 2019. However, critics and festival goers were less than enthusiastic about the sequel, which received “so-so” reviews for several weeks. General audiences also saw the film.
Director Todd Phillips returns to direct “Joker: Folie à Deux,” starring Joaquin Phoenix, and tells the story of fellow inmate and co-conspirator Harleen “Lee” Quinzel, who is serving time for murder at Arkham Eisel. He plays the role of Arthur Fleck, who meets (Lady Gaga). Most of the sequels were staged as fantasy musicals (the original was a dark, gruesome drama inspired by Martin Scorsese films such as Taxi Driver), including Get Happy, That’s Entertainment, “Only once in a lifetime.”
“Todd Phillips wanted to do something completely different, and musical numbers in superhero movies have always been a difficult sell to mainstream audiences,” Bock says.
Another newcomer this weekend, Lionsgate’s “White Bird,” brought in $1.5 million from 980 theaters. “White Bird” is being touted as a prequel and sequel to the 2017 sleeper hit “Wonder,” starring Jacob Tremblay. The film grossed a whopping $27 million, reaching $132 million domestically and $314 worldwide by the end of its run. However, “White Bird” focuses not on Tremblay’s “Wonder” Auggie, but on middle-school bully Julian, played by Bryce Geyser. Now, Julian is ostracized for his treatment of Auggie. There, her grandmother tries to turn Julian’s life around by telling him the story of her childhood as a Jewish girl during the Holocaust. It’s shaping up to be Lionsgate’s seventh consecutive dud, joining the disgraced company of survival thriller “Never Let Go,” assassination comedy “The Killer’s Game” and video game adaptation “Borderlands.”
DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robots” received critical acclaim as a family film, earning $18.7 million and coming in second place. In its first two weeks of release, the film grossed $63.9 million.
Elsewhere, the holdover title is Warner Bros. “Beetlejuice,” Paramount’s “Transformers One” and Universal’s “Speak No Evil” rounded out the box office charts. If Warner Bros. was disappointed with the result of Joker 2, they must be happy with how the Beetlejuice sequel turned out. The Poltergeist sequel came in third place with $10.3 million, taking the North American box office total to £265.5 million. In fourth place, the adventure animation “Transformers” earned $5.3 million for a domestic box office total of $47.2 million, while the Danish-Dutch horror film remake “Speak No Evil” earned $2.8 million. It reached number 5 in the United States and boosted box office revenue in the United States. The total amount reaches $32.6 million.
It is also worth noting that Sony’s “Saturday Night,” which looks back at the first broadcast of “SNL,” which attracted much attention at the Oscars, expanded from 5 locations to more than 20 locations in its second week of release. The film grossed $280,000 over the weekend ($13,333 per location average), for a total of $638,000 through Sunday. Next weekend sees the release of Piece by Piece, a Lego-animated retelling of Pharrell Williams’ life, as well as wide release of Saturday Night.
But the big question will be how Joker 2 will fare in its second weekend after it flopped in its first weekend.