As expected, Smile 2 has gone straight to #1 at the North American box office this weekend with a $23 million opening. The movie received a B CinemaScore from audiences, an improvement over Smile's B- score.
One sequel that isn't making much of an impression, though, is Joker: Folie à Deux. The movie lost 1,245 theaters during its third weekend and is eyeing a disastrous $2 million - $2.5 million haul over the three-day frame following a laughable $665,000 Friday.
Now, the Joker follow-up sits at a dismal $54.9 million in the U.S.
Exhibitors have decided to instead rally around Deadpool & Wolverine. Yes, the movie is available on Digital and just days away from hitting DVD and Blu-ray, but it added an additional 535 theaters this weekend and grossed $185,000 on Friday.
With a predicted $500,000 - $700,000 haul during its thirteenth weekend, it looks set to pass Barbie's $636.2 million haul from last summer by close of business on Sunday.
Here's the current Top 10 for this weekend:
1. Smile 2 ($23 million)
2. The Wild Robot ($10.7 million)
3. Terrifier 3 ($9.8 million)
4. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice ($5 million)
5. We Live in Time ($4.3 million)
6. Joker: Folie à Deux ($2.2 million)
7. Piece by Piece ($2 million)
8. Transformers One ($2 million)
9. Saturday Night ($1.8 million)
10. Nightmare Before Christmas ($1.3 million)
2024 has seen many titles re-released in theaters as a result of the delays caused by last year's WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Theaters continue to struggle but 2025 is shaping up to be a much better year for them thanks to Marvel and DC.
Earlier this year, we concluded our Deadpool & Wolverine review - which you can read by clicking here - by saying, "A contender for the best superhero movie ever, Deadpool & Wolverine is two hours of Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman proving they were born to play these roles and, crucially, be part of the MCU. It’s a f***ing masterpiece."
In contrast, our review of Joker: Folie à Deux wrapped up with, "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."
Talking of Smile 2, Sony Pictures has very cleverly found a way to tie that into Venom: The Last Dance's marketing campaign: