Folie à Deux’ Falls Flat at Box Office, Lands D CinemaScore

That is no joke.

Todd Phillips‘ sequel Joker: Folie à Deux has made historical past by turning into the the primary Hollywood comedian ebook film to earn a D CinemaScore from audiences. Exit polls are equally as grim as audiences specific their unhappiness with the sequel.

That unhappiness is translating right into a troubled opening on the field workplace, the place the Warner Bros. film is coming in effectively behind expectations. The divisive sequel earned a comfortable $20 million on Friday, together with $7 million in previews, for a projected launch south of $50 million. Rival studios present the Joaquin Phoenix–Girl Gaga movie opening anyplace from $42 million to $47 million (one studio even thinks $40 million or much less).

Heading into the weekend, Joker 2 was anticipated to do $50 million to $60 million. That was down from the $70 million anticipated three weeks in the past when the pic first got here on monitoring.

In 2019, Joker debuted to a dreamy $96.2 million on its approach to a record-shattering worldwide complete of $1 billion.

Phillips’ polarizing, R-rated sequel — which made its world premiere on the Venice Movie Competition to combined evaluations — is a genre-busting, music-infused movie that strays exterior the consolation zone of the everyday fanboy-fueled comedian ebook pic. Extra worrisome than Thursday’s evening gross is horrible exit scores on PostTrak, with audiences giving it a half-star out of 5, much like the Thursday evening rating for Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, which bombed in spectacular style final weekend with $4 million after incomes a D+ CinemaScore. (Joker‘s PostTrak might in the end change because the weekend goes on.)

Even superhero films that don’t work on the field workplace normally earn respectable CinemaScores. Marvel Studios’ The Marvels, which opened to a dismal $46.2 million final 12 months, earned a B. Ditto for fellow Warners’ movie The Flash, which opened to a problematic $55 million domestically.

Fanboy websites had been fast to level out the historic which means of a D grade for Joker: Folie à Deux late Friday evening. And the primary Joker didn’t even earn an A however a B+.

Whereas 2019’s Joker earned comparisons to the sooner works of Martin Scorsese, the sequel is a far slower journey that focuses on the inside lives of its two leads. Critics have praised the film’s total magnificence, its performances and its crafts however dinged it for its narrative. “For a film working two-and-a-quarter hours, Folie à Deux feels narratively a bit of skinny and at instances uninteresting,” wrote The Hollywood Reporter‘s chief movie critic David Rooney out of Venice.

No matter its field workplace efficiency, the film nonetheless hopes to be a serious participant within the Oscars race, notably for Phoenix and Gaga’s performances.

Abroad, Joker 2 opens in all places this weekend, save for Japan and China, the place it launches within the coming weeks. Warners is hoping for a overseas debut of $80 million to $85 million.

Joker: Folie à Deux reunites Phillips with Phoenix, who returns within the titular function after profitable the Oscar for greatest actor for his portrayal of Arthur Fleck/Joker. Neither Phillips nor Phoenix was positive about making a sequel and, for a time, contemplated placing on a Broadway present as an alternative, earlier than in the end committing to the film.

The primary Joker value simply $55 million to provide earlier than advertising and marketing. After its success, Phillips’ was given a web manufacturing finances of $190 million to $200 million for the second installment. A part of that went to bringing aboard Gaga in a task impressed by the comedian ebook character Harley Quinn (the filmmakers are hoping she’s going to lure in feminine moviegoers).

A lot of the movie consists of fantasy musical numbers starring the couple, who meet whereas Arthur is in Arkham Asylum, awaiting trial for his crimes from the primary film. Nonetheless, neither Warners nor Phillips is comfy calling it a straight-up musical, on condition that solely two of the characters sing, versus a conventional musical, which normally has scores of individuals collaborating within the numbers.

The studio’s advertising and marketing supplies have steered away from highlighting the movie’s quite a few musical sequences, simply as they did when promoting Wonka, an official musical. Warners isn’t alone; Paramount additionally didn’t market Imply Ladies as a musical.

Phillips is effectively conscious that the sequel is unorthodox, because it doesn’t totally comply with by way of on the ending of Joker, which sees Arthur embrace his alter ego. On the Los Angeles premiere Monday, Phillips thanked the studio “for taking such a daring swing,” including, “It isn’t essentially the sequel you would possibly anticipate.”

Numbers shall be up to date Sunday morning.