Deadline brings word that Joker: Folie à Deux looks set to lose the #1 spot at the North American box office this weekend to Terrifier 3.
Following the Joker sequel's disastrous $37.6 million opening and hauls of $1.8 million on Monday and $2.6 million on Tuesday (tickets are offered at a discounted rate that day), it's likely the second weekend will face a -70% decline.
That's around the $11.2 million mark, and with Terrifier 3 currently eyeing an $11 million debut, that makes it sound like Joker: Folie à Deux will just manage to remain on top. However, the trade believes the movie is following a similar path to The Marvels and its dip will be closer to -80%, meaning a second weekend of $8 million or less.
One of the main reasons Joker: Folie à Deux has been rejected by fans is because it feels like filmmaker Todd Phillips set out to attack fans who idolised Arthur Fleck after watching Joker.
Asked about that by IGN before the sequel's release, he denied tackling toxic fans was ever the goal with Joker: Folie à Deux.
"[One] of the things that we always thought about the first movie or one of the things I definitely said enough in defending the first movie when it needed to be defended because people said it's irresponsible, its use of violence. And I always saw it quite literally the opposite. I thought it was responsible because it was showing the actual real-world effects of violence. It wasn't glamorizing gun use in my mind. It was actually showing, 'Oh my God, this is brutal.' And I think the reality of it maybe is what turned people off, the people that were turned off."
"[It] was never about addressing toxic fandom, but it was about addressing this idea of what happens if this thing gets put upon you, like we were saying, just five minutes ago, but it's not actually what you are. And then, what happens in the worst case scenario, if you finally find love in your life or you think you do, but that person is in love with the character that you represent, not the person that you are."
Whatever the case may be, a big issue with the movie is that its message feels muddled and contradictory to what happened in Joker. Regardless of whether Phillips did want to hit back at fans or critics or truly felt this was the natural next step for Fleck, it didn't work.
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 is now playing in theaters.