JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX Thursday Previews Are Down Nearly 50% From JOKER; Receives 1/2 Star Rating From Audiences

JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX Thursday Previews Are Down Nearly 50% From JOKER; Receives 1/2 Star Rating From Audiences

Things are going from bad to worse for the Clown Prince of Crime as Joker: Folie à Deux has nothing to smile about following a disappointing Thursday at the domestic box office. Find more details here!

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By JoshWilding - Oct 04, 2024 12:10 PM EST
Filed Under: Joker

The Thursday evening preview numbers are in for Joker: Folie à Deux and the latest DC movie made only $7 million. It's worth noting that the number also includes whatever the Joker sequel earned from Monday's early screenings across North America. 

This is a far cry from the 2019 movie which grossed $13.3 million on Thursday alone; from there, it made a record-breaking $96.2 million throughout its opening weekend. 

Tracking is all over the place for Joker: Folie à Deux, but a $50 million debut is a best-case scenario at this stage (it's currently looking likely to land somewhere between $48 million - $53 million).  

Making matters worse is the PostTrak score; we talk about CinemaScore a lot here but this is an exit polling service reporting audience demographics and the aspects of each title that trigger interest and attendance.

While not particularly well-known, it's an important tool used by studios and box office analysts and Joker: Folie à Deux was awarded a 1/2 star and only 40% positive results. That's similar to last weekend's Megalopolis and, most troublingly, only 24% of those asked would definitely recommend the movie to friends. 

This comes after Joker: Folie à Deux dipped to 38% on Rotten Tomatoes. 

It's starting to feel a bit like watching a car crash play out in real time and Warner Bros. Discovery will need to figure out where they went wrong. The biggest question: how does the sequel to an Oscar-winning (Best Actor, Best Original Score) movie that made over $1 billion end up faring so poorly critically and commercially? 

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.

Phillips, who was nominated for Oscars for directing, writing and producing Joker, directed Joker: Folie À Deux from a screenplay by fellow Oscar nominee Scott Silver & Phillips, based on characters from DC. This follow-up was produced by Phillips, Oscar nominee Emma Tillinger Koskoff and Joseph Garner. Lady Gaga served as music consultant.

Joker: Folie À Deux is now playing in theaters. Stay tuned for updates. 

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Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 10/4/2024, 12:14 PM
I can finally relate to so many of the miserable dudes on here, because I am SO happy to see this movie fail. The first one was a hack Scorsese pastiche about how Phillips didn't feel like he could be funny anymore thanks to cancel culture, featuring a guy who killed a bunch of people who didn't think he was funny. Subtle as a sledgehammer.

Fingers crossed Phillips gets the [frick] over himself and goes back to directing "just okay" raunchy comedies.
ItsNotForMeWahh
ItsNotForMeWahh - 10/4/2024, 12:28 PM
@Clintthahamster - I wouldn't say I'm happy to see it fail, I would much rather have more good content in the world than bad content.

I just never really understood the hype for the first movie originally. It did reference lots of great movies but those movies were much better.

Then this movie seemingly removing the mental illness angle, which I believe was a contributing factor to the success of the first, seem like a really poor decision.

I hope, although it won't, that it will make studios learn that just because the first was a success doesn't mean people will be open to a garbage sequel.
Slotherin
Slotherin - 10/4/2024, 12:31 PM
@Clintthahamster - haha, it's weird the things we find ourselves coming together on.
cubrn
cubrn - 10/4/2024, 1:29 PM
@Clintthahamster - I love musicals. I love lady gaga. I loved that they decided to make this a musical, I thought it was a bold decision. But this movie was bad. Bad bad.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 10/4/2024, 1:40 PM
@cubrn - Dude, that sucks. I hate it when a movie is like all of my tastes aligned in one package, and then just turns out to be "meh."

The wife and I have been watching a bunch of old pre-code Warner Brothers/Busby Berkley musicals lately. If you're a musical fan and haven't checked those out, I highly recommend it. Gold Diggers of 1933, Fashions of 1934, Dames, Footlight Parade, 42nd Street . . . all a little dated for sure (racist, sexist, all the greatest hits of the 1930s!) but tons of fun.
cubrn
cubrn - 10/4/2024, 1:46 PM
@Clintthahamster - those are some of my favorite movies which then gave me my appreciation for Singin in the Rain
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 10/4/2024, 1:46 PM
@cubrn - Nice! I don't like many musicals past the 1970s, but Wonka was a damned delight.
cubrn
cubrn - 10/4/2024, 1:57 PM
@Clintthahamster - Singing in the Rain was 1952 with Gene Kelly and Princess Leías baby mama.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 10/4/2024, 3:10 PM
@cubrn - Oh, no, I know Singing in the Rain, though I'm more of a On the Town guy.
StSteven
StSteven - 10/4/2024, 7:42 PM
@Clintthahamster @cubrn - I'm also a big musical fan, so it's always good to meet others. Personally I like the era in the 70's and 80's, stuff like Webber and such (although I've never liked "Cats" and haven't seen "Starlight Express"). In high school I was a theater person (also a cappella choir) so I was in "Peter Pan", "Anything Goes", and then "Fiddler" (although "AG" was my favorite because I played the main character's crusty old boss who gets seasick on the ship and starts drinking - apparently I was so good at portraying an old drunk guy that people thought that I was really drunk).

Anyhow, I really start gravitating toward more of stuff like "Jesus Christ Superstar" (I can still sing every word of it), "Tommy", etc., although I have seen and have great respect for the older shows you guys are talking about.

So I guess when folks on here are complaining about musical elements in shows and movies, I totally get that. But as someone who grew up in that I definitely appreciate those elements, when done right. Unfortunately for the subject of this article that doesn't seem to be the case.
Nightwing1015
Nightwing1015 - 10/4/2024, 8:06 PM
@Clintthahamster - Todd Philips had spokenOn the topic before but Joker has absolutely nothing to do with cancel culture.
asherman93
asherman93 - 10/5/2024, 1:01 AM
@Clintthahamster - Ironically, the spoilers for this flick actually now make me view the duo logo as actually having some merit.
cubrn
cubrn - 10/5/2024, 4:49 AM
@StSteven - I like all eras. I enjoy the 30s-50s ones for the escapism and jubilance but I also enjoy that the 70s onward, musicals became a little bit darker and more cynical with the work of Kander/Ebb and Sondheim. I enjoy the music of Andrew Lloyd Weber, but the actual meat and potatoes of his work does not work for me. I could listen to Evita til I were blue in the face but you couldn't pay me to go to the theater and watch it.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 10/5/2024, 8:44 AM
@StSteven - I had a similar background, but I was into both theater AND band in school, so musicals certainly loomed large. I mostly gravitated toward non-musical roles in my grade school days, but saw Man of La Mancha (with TV's Barney Miller, Hal Linden, as Don Quixote!) when I was a kid, and it definitely had an impact. I was very lucky as a kid growing up in the American South to see some Broadway shows in New York in High School (Phantom, the revival of Tommy, and, most recently, Hedwig and the Angry Inch (which, admittedly, was over 20 years ago.)

Nowadays, I mostly prefer 30s, 40s, and 50s, when the Venn Diagram between show tunes and pop songs was a circle.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 10/5/2024, 8:45 AM
@cubrn - "I could listen to Evita til I were blue in the face but you couldn't pay me to go to the theater and watch it."

I'm pretty much the exact opposite: I'd go see almost any musical pre-2000 (especially for free) but I'd never in a million years put on a soundtrack record.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 10/5/2024, 8:50 AM
@Nightwing1015 - I'll grant you that he only said he was making the movie because of cancel culture, not about it. But the fact that the movie is in essence about a comic who is misunderstood by others and ends up murdering a bunch of people is a bit on the nose. I'm not saying correlation equals causation, but you have to admit that there's at least a correlation.
StSteven
StSteven - 10/5/2024, 9:25 PM
@cubrn - Yeah, there's definitely something to be said for the escapism and jubilance of those earlier shows (I mean, who DIDN'T want to go out swinging around street lamps in the rain or spinning around like an idiot on a hillside after watching those?). But then you watch something like "Hair" then progress toward "JCSS" and "Tommy", etc. and you see how the vibe of the shows got progressively darker but was doing so reflecting the general attitude of the younger generation at the time, specifically when it came to the Vietnam War and other such major events. So in that way, musicals started becoming almost political/religious statements versus escapism. Not saying that one is better or worse than the other. For me, it's just a question of what I'm in the mood to listen to.
StSteven
StSteven - 10/5/2024, 9:37 PM
@Clintthahamster - Yeah, I'm also a musician (started taking guitar lessons when I was 6, took lessons for 12 years, then taught myself music theory along with piano, bass, and drums after that). So I also had an appreciation for the actual music aspect of musicals.

You can read my response to Cuban above so I don't have to repeat that, but I would add an additional comment that to your last point about show tunes and pop songs being one and the same during that era (which was certainly the case), I think that we saw a lot of that as well during the 70's era as well, with songs from "Hair", "Tommy", and "JCSS" being in the popular playlist at the time (and still are fairly popular - I mean they had "Age of Aquarius" -> "Let the Sunshine In" (5th Dimension version) a the end of "40 Year Old Virgin" and Elton John still plays "Pinball Wizard" in concert). So there were a good number of tunes from that era that crossed over into pop as well.
RegularPoochie
RegularPoochie - 10/4/2024, 12:19 PM
User Comment Image
RegularPoochie
RegularPoochie - 10/4/2024, 12:34 PM
My friend asked me to go with him to watch it, so now I know what to say. I'll just stay at home and watch Bleach: TYBW part 3 episode 1 and have few beers and and tons of hot wings.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 10/4/2024, 1:37 PM
@RegularPoochie -
User Comment Image
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 10/4/2024, 1:48 PM
@RegularPoochie - Hope you're stocked up on Tucks Medicated Pads!

🔥
💩
RegularPoochie
RegularPoochie - 10/5/2024, 4:00 AM
@Clintthahamster - lol, it's going to be a war against toilet.
RegularPoochie
RegularPoochie - 10/5/2024, 4:08 AM
@ObserverIO - User Comment Image
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 10/5/2024, 9:12 AM
@RegularPoochie - There's a hot chicken festival every year in the town where I live, so I learned early that spicy chicken and beer are great in the moment, but lead to a considerable amount of regret.
RegularPoochie
RegularPoochie - 10/5/2024, 1:25 PM
@Clintthahamster - lol, this is very true! The more you get boozed up, the more tolorance you have for spicy wings, no matter how hot it gets. Next day you feel like dying up front and down.
RegularPoochie
RegularPoochie - 10/5/2024, 1:26 PM
*tolerance
Forthas
Forthas - 10/4/2024, 12:19 PM
"...and Warner Bros. Discovery will need to figure out where they went wrong."

Hmm what could it be?

https://x.com/i/status/1842002041884872817
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 10/4/2024, 12:26 PM
@Forthas - If you ask me, it's because James Gunn didn't produce it, and fill it with his friends and family! Sean Gunn as Joker, Jennifer Holland as Harley, Nathan Fillion as . . . IDK, presumably there are other characters in this movie.
Forthas
Forthas - 10/4/2024, 12:33 PM
@Clintthahamster - Well we know that what you suggest would have happened if Gunn were in charge at the onset.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 10/4/2024, 1:26 PM
@Forthas - Oh man, I really hope you don't mind that Todd Phillips had worked with Bryan Callen the Hangover and the Hangover II before casting him in The Joker. 😬
Forthas
Forthas - 10/4/2024, 1:42 PM
@Clintthahamster - Not really since he had a small role with the title "Haha's Stripper" as opposed to James Gunn's (a studio head who green lights his own films) BROTHER who has THREE major roles in the DCU.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 10/4/2024, 1:44 PM
@Forthas - Well, I'm sorry you won't get any parts in James Gunn's films, but don't give up! Just keep sending in your self-tapes and maybe you can get into the inner circle!
UncleHarm1
UncleHarm1 - 10/5/2024, 2:23 AM
@Clintthahamster - You jest, but I have completed filming my rendition of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night wearing a Wonder Twins costume. I'm sure once I post it on X I'll be a lock for his next film.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 10/5/2024, 8:55 AM
@UncleHarm1 - I'd like to see that.
Moriakum
Moriakum - 10/4/2024, 12:23 PM
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Conquistador
Conquistador - 10/4/2024, 12:23 PM
Found a pretty good copy online. Watched the first 15 minutes so far...It's not terrible...but there was never any possibility of this movie getting close to 1B.

At this pace it's going to end up grossing less that The Marvels...another sequel to a billion dollar movie.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 10/4/2024, 1:40 PM
@Conquistador - It's a marathon not a sprint. You're only 15 minutes in. It hasn't worn you down completely yet.
ImNotaBot
ImNotaBot - 10/4/2024, 4:44 PM
@Conquistador - the first half is ok, the second half is where the movie goes trainwreck
whynot
whynot - 10/4/2024, 12:23 PM
“$50 million debut is a best-case scenario at this stage (it's currently looking likely to land somewhere between $48 million - $53 million).”

Says 50 mil is best case scenario then proceeds to say it’s tracking to 53 mil lol
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