‘Joker 2’ stumbles at the box office amid poor reviews from audiences and critics

“Joker: Folie à Deux” is the number one movie at the box office, but it may not be destined for a happy ending.

In a turn of events that only Arthur Fleck would find funny, the sequel to Todd Phillips’ 2019 Origin Story about the Batman villain opened in theaters nationwide this weekend with a take of $40 million, according to studio estimates Sunday, less than half of its predecessor. The collapse was rapid and many in the industry wonder: How did it come about? the highly anticipated sequel to a multimillion-dollar, Oscar-winning film with the same creative team does it go wrong?

Just three weeks ago, tracking services estimated the film would have a $70 million debut, which still would have been quite a bit less than “Joker’s” record-breaking $96.2 million launch in October 2019. . Venice Film Festivalwhere premiered in competition as the first film and even received a 12-minute standing ovation.

But the glow of homecoming was short-lived, and the fragile foundation would crumble in the coming weeks, with its Rotten Tomatoes score falling from 63% in Venice to 33% in its first weekend in theaters. Perhaps even more surprising were the audience reviews: ticket buyers surveyed on opening night gave the film a lethal D CinemaScore. PostTrak exit polls were no better. It earned a meager half star out of a possible five.

“It’s a double whammy that’s very difficult to recover from,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “The biggest problem of all is the reported budget. A $40 or $50 million opening for a less expensive film would be a solid debut.”

“Joker: Folie à Deux” cost at least twice as much to produce as the first film, although reported figures vary as to exactly how expensive it was to make. Phillips told Variety it was less than the reported $200 million; Others put it at 190 million dollars. Warner Bros. released the film in 4,102 locations in North America. About 12.5% ​​of its domestic total came from 415 IMAX screens.

Internationally, it has earned $81.1 million from 25,788 screens, bringing its total global earnings estimate to $121.1 million. In the next two weeks, “Joker 2” will also premiere in Japan and China.

Second place went to Universal and DreamWorks Animation“The Wild Robot” which grossed $18.7 million in its second weekend, bringing its domestic total to nearly $64 million. Worldwide, it has raised more than $100 million. Warner Bros.’ “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” took third place in the fifth weekend, Paramount’s “Transformers One” came in fourth and Universal and Blumhouse’s “Speak No Evil” rounded out the top five.

The other big news of the weekend, Lionsgate “White Bird” flopped with just $1.5 million in just over 1,000 locations, despite an A+ CinemaScore.

Overall, the weekend is up from the same frame last year, but the start of “Joker” is an unwelcome turn for theater owners hoping to close the box office deficit.

Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix have said they aspired to do something as “bold” as the first film. He The sequel added Lady Gaga to the fold.as a Joker superfan, and delved into the mind of Arthur Fleck, imprisoned in Arkham and awaiting trial for the murders he committed in the first. It’s also a musical, with songs and dance numbers elaborately imagined to ancient standards. Gaga even released a companion album. called “’Harlequin,” along with the movie.

in your review for The Associated PressJake Coyle wrote that “Phillips has followed his anti-hero version of the Joker with an anti-sequel. It combines prison drama, courtroom thriller and musical, and yet it is surprisingly inert given how combustible the original was.”

The sequel has already been the subject of many think pieces, some of which posited that the sequel was deliberately alienating fans of the first film. In cruder terms, it has been called the “middle finger.” But fans often ignore critics’ advice, especially when it comes to opening their wallets to see revered comic book characters on the big screen.

“They went for the fences,” Dergarabedian said. “But except for a couple of outliers, audiences in 2024 seem to want to know what they’re going to see when they go to the theater. “They want the tried and true, the familiar.”

It also has some high-profile defenders: Francis Ford Coppola, who got his last week. D+ CinemaScore for his expensive, ambitious and divisive film “Megalopolis,” he entered the Joker’s chat with a post on Instagram.

“@ToddPhillips films always surprise me and I thoroughly enjoy them,” Coppola wrote. “Since the wonderful ‘The Hangover’, he is always one step ahead of the audience and never does what they expect.”

Meanwhile, “Megalopolis” lost 74% in its second weekend with just over $1 million, bringing its total to just under $6.5 million against a $120 million budget.

Deadline editor Anthony D’Alessandro believes the problem started with the idea of ​​making the Joker sequel a musical. “No fan of the original movie wanted to see a musical sequel,” he wrote on Saturday.

He The first film was also divisive. and it is the subject of much discourse, then about whether it might send the wrong message to the wrong kind of person. And yet people still flocked to see what all the fuss was about. “Joker” earned 11 Oscar nominations, including best picture and best director, and three wins. It also grossed more than $1 billion and was the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time — until this summer, when Marvel’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” took the crown.

Estimated ticket sales from Friday to Sunday at theaters in the United States and Canada, according to Comscore. Final national figures will be published on Monday.

1. “Joker: Folie à Deux”, $40 million.

2. “The Wild Robot”, $18.7 million.

3. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” $10.3 million.

4. “Transformers One,” $5.4 million.

5. “Speak No Evil,” $2.8 million.

6. “Sam and Colby: Legends of the Paranormal,” $1.8 million.

7. “White Bird”, $1.5 million.

8. “Deadpool and Wolverine”, $1.5 million.

9. “The substance”, 1.3 million dollars.

10. “Megalopolis”, 1.1 million dollars.