After months of hype, “Joker: Folie À Deux” seriously disappoints at the weekend box office

Box office expectations for Todd Phillips Joker: Folie À Deux We’ve been building for months (if not years). When Joker released in 2019, it turned out to be a phenomenon – not only did it gross over $1 billion worldwide, but it became the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time and won an Oscar for star Joaquin Phoenix. Audiences around the world expected the sequel to the film to generate as much buzz and enthusiasm, especially with Lady Gaga playing a significant supporting role… but that didn’t happen.

Instead, Joker: Folie À Deux quickly turns into failure. The extremely expensive sequel to the film was brutalized by critics and audiences alike, resulting in disappointing opening weekend ticket sales. Check out the full Top 10 list below and join me after the analysis.

(Photo: Warner Bros.)

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TITLE	GROSS WEEKEND	GROSS DOMESTIC	LV	THTRS
1. Joker: Folie À Deux*	$40,000,000	$40,000,000	Not applicable	4102
2. Wild robot	$18,700,000	$63,984,000	1	3997
3. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice	$10,325,000	$265,506,148	2	3576
4. Transformers 1	$5,350,000	$47,221,000	3	3106
5. Don’t say anything bad	$2,800,000	$32,586,000	5	2279
6. The White Bird: A Wonderful Story*	$1,530,000	$1,530,000	Not applicable	1018
7. Deadpool and Wolverine	$1,526,000	$633,839,345	7	1605
8. Substance	$1,346,938	$9,732,272	11	686
9. Megalopolis	$1,050,000	$6,489,266	6	1854
10. My old ass	$908,376	$4,513,848	9	1205

Joker: Folie À Deux surprises with an exceptionally mild opening weekend

As noted, Joker when it was released in late 2019, it was a huge hit and not a film that had to slowly find an audience. The film was intended to be a new and different kind of cinematic experience for comic book fans, and plenty of buzz meant that the film grossed $96.2 million domestically in its first three days of release – despite the unfavorable R rating. Joker: Folie À Deux he was expected to post similar numbers… but he didn’t. It wasn’t even close.

According to early results published by The Numbers, Joker: Folie À Deux earning less than half of what the 2019 film earned on its opening weekend. Earning $40 million on its opening weekend in 2024 isn’t a total disaster in itself (it’s the 15th-biggest debut of the year, slightly behind the $42 million earned by Fede Álvarez Alien: Romulus in August), but compared to what forecasters predicted, this is a very bad start.

It wouldn’t be a problem if Joker: Folie À Deux was made on a budget similar to its predecessor… but the filmmakers and studio were extremely arrogant when it came to making another film. According to a Variety report from February this year. Joker was made for a modest $60 million, but the musical sequel cost almost four times that amount, with reported production costs as high as $200 million. The sequel would have been in a solid financial position if opening weekend ticket sales had held steady, but that hasn’t been the case and it now appears that the Joaquin Phoenix/Lady Gaga film will leave its mark as one of the box office failures of 2024.

(Photo: Warner Bros.)

Apart from a difficult debut, Joker: Folie À Deux it looks like he also has a difficult oral problem ahead of him. Criticisms began to appear online after the film premiered at the Venice Film Festival (you can read my 2.5-star rating Joker: Folie À Deux CinemaBlend review published last month) and although it did not immediately arouse much enthusiasm, after the cinema premiere the situation with the title deteriorated significantly. In addition to nearly identical ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, the title received a “D” in polls conducted by CinemaScore (the previous film, despite its bleakness, received a “B+”)

Although the film is not doing very well in the domestic market, positive effects are coming from foreign markets. Yet, Joker: Folie à Deux it grossed $81 million from outside the United States and Canada for a worldwide total of $121 million. With this in mind, ticket sales are expected to decline sharply in the coming weeks, and the said sequel budget does not include advertising and marketing costs.

It will be interesting to see how this ultimately impacts ticket sales on a macro basis throughout the rest of October. This was expected in the industry Joker 2 would be the dominant title throughout the month, but the chances of it topping the top ten sales charts again next weekend seem slim. This could create an opportunity for big titles to hit theaters in the coming weeks (including “Kelly Marcel.” Venom: The Last Dance and Parker Finn Smile 2…but it could also end in market deflation.

Needless to say, ticket sales next weekend will be interesting.

The wild robot descends silently amid an eerie noise

Raw workmanship Joker: Folie À Deux it’s a bummer for anyone rooting for the health of the industry, but one positive to take from this weekend’s box office numbers is Chris Sanders’ performance Wild Robot. Despite DreamWorks Animation’s new film taking the top spot last Sunday, it didn’t have what you’d call a blockbuster debut when it hit theaters in late September, but one thing that stands out about this movie is that almost everyone who when he sees it, he falls in love with it (for example, I gave Wild Robot 4.5 stars in my CinemaBlend review). The film gained huge acclaim from critics and viewers, and the positive attitude resulted in what could be called a successful second Friday to Sunday.

Dropped to second place due to release Joker: Folie À Deux, Wild Robot it added $18.7 million to its domestic box office over the last three days, a slight 48 percent drop from weekend to weekend after a solid debut. To date, the animated film starring the voices of Lupita Nyong’o and Pedro Pascal has grossed $64 million in the United States and Canada, and combined with overseas ticket sales ($35.5 million), the title has grossed over $100 million worldwide. These results are not exactly comparable to Mike Mitchell’s results Kung Fu Panda 4 or Kelsey Mann From the inside 2 produced earlier this year but not a sequel, nor does it have the advantage of having a huge built-in audience.

Looking ahead to next week, the current slate of titles will include some interesting new films to compete with, such as: Student starring Sebastian Stan, Damien Leone’s vomit-inducing slasher Terrifier 3 and Morgan Neville’s Pharrell Williams biopic Piece by pieceand Jason Reitman Saturday night all will appear in a wide release. Be sure to come back to CinemaBlend next Sunday to check out the weekend’s box office numbers, and head over to our 2024 Movie Release Calendar to discover all the titles hitting theaters and streaming throughout the remaining weeks/months of the year.