As Joker: Folie à Deux enters its second weekend in theaters, box office projections point to the sequel dropping to third place behind Terrifier 3 and DreamWorks Animation's The Wild Robot (which opened on September 27).
According to Deadline, Terrifier 3 made roughly $7.7 million on Friday for an expected $15 million weekend. As for The Wild Robot, it grossed $3.6 million yesterday and is expected to earn $13.1 million, an impressive result for a movie that's been buoyed by glowing reviews.
Then, there's Joker: Folie à Deux; in a distant third, the DC Comics adaptation managed to hit $2.8 million yesterday for a projected $8 million - $9 million second weekend, a decline of 77%.
The Joker sequel should be pretty safe in third place as Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will make $6.7 million and Transformers One is eyeing $4.1 million.
"There's a warmth in that scene, which is nice," Joker: Folie à Deux star Joaquin Phoenix recently said of the movie's divisive ending. "That's all that I was thinking about that I was after, is here's this young man who's telling me a joke and he's nervous to tell me the joke, I can tell that he's nervous, and I'm going to hear him out. And it's a pretty good setup."
Of course, it was those closing moments which caused the fan and audience backlash and left the movie with a 32% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Warner Bros. appears to have accepted that Joker: Folie à Deux will be one of the year's biggest flops as the studio has pretty much given up promoting the sequel on social media.
The last post was on January 9 and it's just a generic "Now Playing" teaser which you can watch below.
In our review of the movie, we concluded by saying, "Lady Gaga shines and Joaquin Phoenix brings more of the same to Joker: Folie à Deux, a wholly unnecessary sequel with no new ideas and nothing to say. It doesn’t work as a movie or a musical. What a waste of $200 million."
Joker: Folie À Deux finds Arthur Fleck institutionalized at Arkham awaiting trial for his crimes as Joker. While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur not only stumbles upon true love, but also finds the music that's always been inside him.
The sequel 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 movie also features Oscar nominees Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin) and Catherine Keener (Get Out), alongside Zazie Beetz, reprising her role from Joker.
Joker: Folie À Deux is now playing in theaters.