Had Joker: Folie à Deux followed a similar trajectory to 2019's Joker, the sequel would have likely remained #1 at the box office for several weeks. Instead, gory slasher flick Terrifier 3 will take the top spot this weekend with a projected $16 million - $17 million North American debut.
In second place is DreamWorks Animation's The Wild Robot which, during weekend number three, will earn $13.9 million. We'd expected Joker: Folie à Deux to slip to third place, but no, it's been beaten by Beetlejuice Beetlejuice which is on course to gross somewhere around $7.2 million - $7.4 million during its sixth weekend.
As for the Clown Prince of Crime, he's well and truly lost his smile with a shocking $6.6 million - $6.8 million haul from 4,102 theaters from its second weekend.
That's a record-breaking decline of 82%, a new record previously held by The Marvels which dropped by 78% in the same period. Warner Bros. stands to lose upwards of $150 million on Joker: Folie à Deux and it's impossible to imagine it receiving any serious awards attention between this and the negative reviews.
"No one could get through to Todd," a source directly involved with the movie recently told the trades. "And the one thing about genre stuff: If you don’t listen and pay attention to what the fan expectations are, you’re going to fail."
"If the first movie was about some down-on-his-luck, mentally ill guy in a downtrodden city, it makes maybe $150 [million] worldwide. Not a billion," another insider added. "People showed up because that guy was Joker."
Next year will see a relaunch of the DCU with DC Studios' Superman. Whether moviegoers will show up for that given how tarnished the DC brand now is remains to be seen.
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.