JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX - Warner Bros. Discovery CEO Acknowledges Sequel's "Disappointing" Box Office Performance

JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX - Warner Bros. Discovery CEO Acknowledges Sequel's "Disappointing" Box Office Performance

During today's Warner Bros. Discovery investors call, CEO David Zaslav acknowledged Todd Phillips' Joker sequel's disappointing performance at the box office...

By MarkCassidy - Nov 07, 2024 11:11 AM EST
Filed Under: Joker
Source: Via Variety

Warner Bros. must have had every confidence in Joker: Folie à Deux director Todd Phillips to deliver a hit after his first film became the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time (only recently surpassed by Deadpool and Wolverine), but the highly divisive sequel didn't come anywhere close to matching its predecessor's success.

The studio was hoping to see Folie à Deux recoup at least some of its costs when it arrived on Digital platforms late last month, but the movie failed to make much of an impact and only managed to reach fourth place on both the iTunes and Fandango charts.

It would be foolish of the studio to even attempt to put a positive spin on this, and WBD CEO David Zaslav has now acknowledged that Joker 2 was "disappointing."

“Even in an industry of hits and misses, we must acknowledge that our studios business must deliver more consistency,” Zaslav said today during an investors call. “For the past two years, we’ve been driving changes within our motion picture studio to improve green light governance and franchise management, which remain focal points going forward. This is a business where translating operational changes into results takes time, but I believe we’ll see those strategic shifts deliver improved outcomes in the coming years."

Zaslav went on to tout the success of HBO's The Batman spin-off series. “Stories like The Penguin that can shape culture, spark conversations, and become appointment viewing, always win over time.

Phillips has previously said that he never had any intention of returning for a third film, but if there were tentative plans to continue the franchise with a "Lee Quinzel" (Lady Gaga) movie or some other spin-off, they have almost certainly been scrapped.

Hopefully, James Gunn and Peter Safran can usher in a successful new era of DC Comics-based projects when the DCU officially gets underway with Creature Commandos this December and next year's Superman reboot

From acclaimed writer/director/producer Todd Phillips comes Joker: Folie À Deux, the much-anticipated follow-up to 2019’s Academy Award-winning Joker, which earned more than $1 billion at the global box office and remains the (second) highest-grossing R-rated film of all time.

The new film stars Joaquin Phoenix once again in his Oscar-winning dual role as Arthur Fleck/Joker, opposite Oscar winner Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born). The film also stars Oscar nominees Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin) and Catherine Keener (Get Out, Capote), alongside Zazie Beetz, reprising her role from Joker.

The movie is rated R for “some strong violence, language throughout, some sexuality, and brief full nudity.”

Have you watched the Joker sequel yet, or did the reviews put you off? Let us know in the comments section down below.

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JobinJ
JobinJ - 11/7/2024, 11:33 AM
Yeah, no shit. The first one was a masterpiece. Then these dorks had to go try to be creative and do something unique when they should’ve just stuck with what worked.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 11/7/2024, 12:03 PM
Muahaha one step backwards, two steps backwards
AnEye
AnEye - 11/7/2024, 12:43 PM
@bobevanz - Desperation lmao. Simon Kinberg sucks
Batmangina
Batmangina - 11/7/2024, 12:51 PM
@bobevanz - YAY! More Skywalker Saga - maybe they'll make a MUSICAL!!

On a related note, this is spectacular: ?si=RYKph3PRT3p1qLJy
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 11/7/2024, 12:59 PM
@bobevanz - *chuckled*
“Someone say cuckold”
“NO BBC! GET THE HELL OUT!”
dragon316
dragon316 - 11/7/2024, 5:25 PM
@JobinJ - they act same way marvel did they saw success got clocks big ego maybe sequel will do same 😂 realized captain marvel was same situation it made billion and sequel sucked at box office
slickrickdesigns
slickrickdesigns - 11/7/2024, 11:34 AM
Just wait till you hear about the Directors Cut they’re releasing.
Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 11/7/2024, 11:43 AM
@slickrickdesigns - more like The Directors Hard Push
grif
grif - 11/7/2024, 11:38 AM
what a dumbass ceo. when something does well you do not quadruple the budget

ItsNotForMeWahh
ItsNotForMeWahh - 11/7/2024, 11:38 AM
Todd Phillips:

User Comment Image
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 11/7/2024, 11:38 AM
Matt Reeves Batman stuff is working.

Maybe they should immediately bombard us with a completely different universe and say that Matt Reeves' Batman stuff doesn't count.

Can't have anything actually working now can we?
TheJok3r
TheJok3r - 11/7/2024, 11:45 AM
@ObserverIO - The so called "DCU" is dead on arrival. Reeves' Batman is the future of DC. HBO is already talking to Reeves about a 2nd show, and he himself said that plans for a 3rd film are on track as planned.
Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 11/7/2024, 11:40 AM
Looks like he got Jonkled by his bosses in Tel Aviv
MrDandy
MrDandy - 11/7/2024, 11:42 AM
Wow. How brave of them to acknowledge the obvious.
Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 11/7/2024, 11:43 AM
@MrDandy - he is protestant... So brave is not his strong suit
Batmangina
Batmangina - 11/7/2024, 12:52 PM
@Malatrova15 - Our Father, who art gotten JONKLED!!!
TheJok3r
TheJok3r - 11/7/2024, 11:44 AM
"Zaslav went on to tout the success of HBO's The Batman spin-off series."

It's great to see the CEO himself acknowledge Reeves' work, as it ensures Gunn can't pull anything later down the road.
JayLemle
JayLemle - 11/7/2024, 11:57 AM
Well, at least, like another person below said, the studio is acknowledging the failure. I don't feel they acknowledged the mistakes that were made with the previous DC movies. They just kept making movies and making unnecessary changes. Or just flat-out cancelling projects that were at the mid-point. At least, there won't be three difference DC universes now. Elsewords and DCU to keep track and consistency.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 11/7/2024, 3:14 PM
@JayLemle - No just two different universes, lol.
CoHost
CoHost - 11/7/2024, 11:58 AM
"Disappointing"?

Disappointing is finding out my local ice cream store ran out of cotton candy ice cream. This was a catastrophe.
NickScryer
NickScryer - 11/7/2024, 12:17 PM
What did Feige say about The Marvels?

It was an even bigger flop: earned as much as Joker2, but had a bigger budget and the benefit of PG-13 rating.
SATW42
SATW42 - 11/7/2024, 12:57 PM
@NickScryer - I'd have to look to make sure, but a better question would be what did Bob Iger say about the Marvels in Disneys investor meeting. I don't think Feige talks directly to the investors outside of Disney's Investor day, and that's usually making announcements for upcoming projects.

The transcripts and pdfs are publicly available for these investor calls, for any publicly traded company, if you wanted to look into it.

I'm not sure what Iger saying about The Marvels has to do with Zaslav talking about Joker 2 though. Just tribalism? It has no bearing on this investor call...

As much as it might be a competition for keyboard warriors, it isn't for investors on this call. If I lost money, I don't care that Disney lost money last year. Either I invest in both and you're just reminding me I'm losing money elsewhere too, not productive, or I don't invest in Disney and I don't want to hear about it because I don't care.

Another better question to ask is, what was Disneys losses that quarter Marvels released and what was Warner Bros. Because if Disney as a whole was up, it doesn't matter that an individual project was down. WBD had a bad quarter so it has to speak to WHY

EskimoJ
EskimoJ - 11/7/2024, 4:25 PM
@SATW42 - That's exactly what it is: Tribalism.
ModHaterSLADE
ModHaterSLADE - 11/7/2024, 12:20 PM
Didn't hate it, but compared to the first it's pretty forgettable.
SATW42
SATW42 - 11/7/2024, 12:45 PM
For everyone saying "at least they acknowledged it" they kind of had to, so it's hardly a feather in their cap. This was an investors call. You legally cannot lie to your investors, so the fact that it was SO much of a disaster makes it impossible to talk about it without acknowledging it's failure.

Today was not a great day for WBD, they also had to acknowledge how catastrophic their video game business is doing. Also reported by Zaslav, Multiverses lost them another $100 million dollars, on top of the $200 million they already lost this year.

Forthas
Forthas - 11/7/2024, 12:54 PM
No mention of Peacemaker? I hope this is a sign leadership is losing faith in James Gunn's goofball comedy strategy. The ONLY franchise film strategy when it comes to DC films that has been consistently successful is the character driven grounded films and TV shows that are critical and box office wins for the studio.
Forthas
Forthas - 11/7/2024, 1:15 PM
@Forthas - In other news between their embrace of the the grounded Penguin series Warner Brothers my yet win me over. They are now pushing for Hans Zimmer's score in Dune 2 to be nominated for an Oscar despite earlier reports it was disqualified. It would be an epic shame that what to me is the best film of the year did not get a nod for its score. Fingers crossed

https://www.darkhorizons.com/dune-part-two-score-seeks-an-oscar/
SATW42
SATW42 - 11/7/2024, 3:54 PM
@Forthas - No reason for Peacemaker to come up in an investors meeting for Quarter 3 of 2024. This wasn't a random interview, it was an investors meeting. Penguin came up because it's a current project that was part of the latter half of Q3 and helped with Max subscriptions.

Peacemaker won't be a thing, rumored as of now, until the Q3 of next year.

I wouldn't take them not talking about it, during an investors call, as a sign of anything at all since it's release is probably still a year away.

For example, I can't seem to find any mention of AEW during this call, the wrestling Brand they JUST acquired streaming rights for on MAX. Should we assume WBD has already lost faith in AEW?


Forthas
Forthas - 11/7/2024, 6:33 PM
@SATW42 - Fair points but my counter to that is that if you are going to talk about streaming programs, even if Peacemaker is not an upcoming program, wouldn't he highlight the most popular or at least the prototype of the type of programing he things will provide the greatest benefit to the company. Why would investors care if the programming was coming up now or in the future. The point is that Zaslav would point to the shiniest object to make the case that WB is on the right track.
Ha1frican
Ha1frican - 11/7/2024, 1:19 PM
David Zaslav puts to bed the idea of meritocracy amongst corporate CEO’s being a thing. These people fail upwards
EskimoJ
EskimoJ - 11/7/2024, 4:23 PM
@Ha1frican - DEI is the problem.
HulkisHoly
HulkisHoly - 11/7/2024, 3:42 PM
Someone should have looked at Phillips’ script for joker 2 and not greenlit it or given that huge of a budget.

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