The second-week drop-off of Joker: Folie à Deux was a massive blow to Warner Bros. As Joker: Folie à Deux is bombing at the box office, Variety reports it could lose the studio at least $150 million to $200 million. However, Warner Bros. isn’t about to admit to anything at this point. “Any estimates suggested by anonymous ‘insiders’ or ‘rival executives’ are grossly wrong and continues a trend where rumor is reported as fact.” It is even recently revealed that the studio is dumping it on digital early – October 29th – in the hopes of recouping some of its $200 million investment.

The first Joker was heavily inspired by works of Scorsese, notably Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy. According to Deadline, Paul Schrader, the writer of the former, recently sat down with Interview Magazine, where he illustrated just how much he disliked the movie. “I don’t like either of those people,” he said. “I don’t like them as actors. I don’t like them as characters. I don’t like the whole thing. I mean, those are people who, if they came to your house, you’d slip out the back door.” Schrader explained,

I saw about 10 or 15 minutes of it. I left, bought something, came back, saw another 10 minutes. That was enough.”

The Oscar-nominated director stated plainly that the film was a “really bad musical.” Schrader was actually pitched an idea to do a Taxi Driver sequel from De Niro and Scorsese had urged him to hear him out. “Now, I don’t want to slag De Niro, but a lot of his decisions sometimes have financial motivations. I’m sure someone had said to him, ‘You know, if you do ‘Taxi Driver 2,’ they can pay.’” Apparently, director Martin Scorsese — of course a close friend and collaborator of De Niro — talked Schrader into sitting down with the actor over the potential for a Taxi Driver sequel. “So we had dinner at Bob’s restaurant and Bob was talking about it. I said, ‘Wow, that’s the worst f*cking idea I’ve ever heard. That character dies at the end of that movie or dies shortly thereafter. He’s gone.’”

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While this year has had its fair share of surprising flops, Joker: Folie à Deux is probably one of the more surprising ones. It had the hype of Lady Gaga taking on the role of Harley Quinn and the musical twist potentially lent itself to exploring interesting territory as an R-rated sequel to a notorious comic book villain. The movie’s response would become incredibly underwhelming, and Blu-ray.com has announced that Warner Bros. is already set to release the film’s 4K Blu-ray and standard Blu-ray release on December 17. The digital release is going to be even sooner, with a recent Variety report on the film’s box office woes revealing WB is dumping it on digital early – October 29th – in the hopes of recouping some of its $200 million investment.

Joker: Folie à Deux stars Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Zazie Beetz, Steve Coogan, and Harry Lawtey. The description reads, “He is no longer alone! Joker: Folie à Deux starring Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix, Oscar winner for his performance in the 2019 feature Joker. Based on DC characters, the film tells the story of Joker and Harley Quinn, since the beginning of the emblematic villain couple.”

Not much has been announced by way of special features, but the specs include:

Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Original aspect ratio: 2.20:1

Audio
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)

Subtitles
English SDH, Spanish

Discs
4K Ultra HD
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)

Digital
Digital copy included

Packaging
SteelBook

Playback
4K Blu-ray: Region free
2K Blu-ray: Region A

Despite being a sequel to a movie that made a billion dollars worldwide, Joker: Folie à Deux has posted a truly disastrous opening. According to Deadline, the film didn’t even crack $40 million this weekend, with them estimating a dismal $39 million finish.  It seems fans didn’t go for Todd Phillips’s rather ambitious idea to make this a musical, with it peppered with fantasy musical sequences in between some rather dull courtroom melodrama. The star pairing of Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga wasn’t enough to win over fanboys or general audiences, who slammed it with an almost unheard of (for a comic book movie) D CinemaScore rating.

In his review for Joker: Folie à Deux, JoBlo’s Chris Bumbray stated, “As such, the audience who cosplayed Joker and Harley Quinn at the screening I attended couldn’t help but look a little dejected as the credits rolled. The film lacked the same kind of impact the original movie had despite a longer, bloated running time and a much heftier budget.”

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The first Joker movie made over $1 billion worldwide and scored Joaquin Phoenix an Academy Award for Best Actor. Getting the ball rolling on a sequel was the obvious move, but unfortunately, Joker: Folie à Deux is bombing at the box office, and Variety reports it could lose the studio at least $150 million to $200 million.

While Joker was produced for just $60 million, the sequel pushed that budget up to $200 million, plus $100 million in marketing and distribution costs. In order to break even, the sequel reportedly has to get to $450 million worldwide (although sources at the studio say the number is $375 million). It’s unlikely that Joker: Folie à Deux will reach either of those goals. The film has grossed $165 million after nearly two weeks of release, while the original film earned $248.4 million after just three days. Not looking good.

However, Warner Bros. isn’t about to admit to anything at this point. “Any estimates suggested by anonymous ‘insiders’ or ‘rival executives’ are grossly wrong and continues a trend where rumor is reported as fact.” a Warner Bros. spokesperson said in a statement. “The film continues to play in theatrical release, included with this week’s opening in China, and will continue to earn revenue throughout its home viewing and ancillary run.“

Many fans of the first movie felt alienated by the sequel. “The first ‘Joker’ was a timely, fresh counterpoint to the dominant superhero narrative and tone, and it worked,” said David A. Gross of movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “The filmmakers deserve credit for making more unconventional creative choices in ‘Folie,’ adding the romantic angle with Lady Gaga. But this time nothing worked.“

Our own Chris Bumbray wasn’t a fan of the sequel, feeling that it only exists because the first movie made a boatload of money. “Perhaps Joker was too big of a hit not to get a sequel, but watching Joker: Folie à Deux, you get the distinct feeling that this was an exercise in style for Phillips rather than a sequel that HAD to be made,” Bumbray wrote. “As it is, though, this Joker sequel spins its wheels and winds up being an often dull courtroom movie livened up by occasional flights of fancy into musical numbers. Those sequences are the best in the film, as without them, this would feel like a wholly unnecessary epilogue to what was originally a pretty powerful film.” You can check out the rest of Bumbray’s review right here, and be sure to let us know what you think of the film as well.

Joker: Folie à Deux will be released on 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray on December 17th.

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With Joker: Folie a Deux withering away at the box office, it seems likely that Warner Bros and DC are going to want to put a little distance between themselves and Todd Phillips’s disastrous sequel before the Clown Prince of Crime is welcomed back to the big screen (it seems highly unlikely he’ll figure into The Batman Part 2). However, sooner or later the Joker will return, as not one but two actors have won Oscars for playing the role (although Phoenix’s interpretation has been somewhat retconned). It’s just a delicious part to play, isn’t it? But, of all the actors, who was the best? Take the poll below and let us know!

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UPDATE: The Friday numbers are starting to roll in, and it looks like the micro-budget Terrifier 3 is indeed wiping the floor with Joker: Folie a Deux at the weekend box office (just as we predicted). But, in a stunning turn of events, it looks like the much-hated Joker sequel (which we unpacked on this week’s livestream) might not even hit second place at the box office, with Deadline reporting that The Wild Robot might be able to take second place. 

Terrifier 3 looks like it will hit about $15 million this weekend, which is quite a coup for an indie horror flick without any studio support behind it. The only caveat is that, given the rabid fan base, it might be front-loaded, and could gross a lot less on Saturday than it did on Friday. The Wild Robot looks like it will hit second place, with about $13 million this weekend, being propelled by excellent word of mouth. 

As for Joker, it looks like it will come in third, with a $8-9 million weekend, which would mean it fell off a disastrous 77% in its second weekend. Ouch. Meanwhile, it looks like Jason Reitman’s excellent Saturday Night is struggling to find a theatrical audience, with it only on track for a $4 million weekend. The Donald Trump movie, The Apprentice, is also crashing with audiences, with it only on track to make about $1-1.5 million for the weekend.

We’ll be back tomorrow with a full box office rundown!

Original Post:

Damien Leone’s Art the Clown is back to sink an ax into the box office with Terrifier 3 (read our review here), just in time for the lead-up to Halloween! On Thursday, the unrated Cineverse slasher reached $2.6M in previews, with screenings beginning at 8 p.m. Reports indicate Terrifier 3 only cost $5 million for its acquisition and publicity. It’s worth mentioning that Art the Clown is a hit at Spirit Halloween stores this holiday, with various costumes, props, apparel, and animatronic decorations throughout the limited-time Halloween-themed outlet. If Terrifier 3 only costs $5M to bring to cinemas and has already made $2.6M, the splatterpunk sequel could become another mega-hit for the studio.

While Art’s got a big smile at the thought of making audiences puke from his hyper-violent antics, Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux feels the opposite. Analysts expect Terrifier 3 to overtake Joker: Folie à Deux at the box office this weekend with an $11M debut. Terrifier 3 holds a 94% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes despite audiences exiting the film early to refund their popcorn into a theater restroom toilet.

“The early box office numbers putting Terrifier 3 at No. 1 after early previews are far beyond our expectations and we are thrilled to see how strongly the Terrifier fanbase has come out in support of the franchise’s new chapter,” said Cineverse Chairman/CEO Chris McGurk in a statement this AM. “This success is proof that a quality indie film can hold its own theatrically despite being unrated and going up against big studio features and buzzy festival darlings, and is a testament to Phil and Damien’s vision and connection to those most passionate about the horror genre.”

Meanwhile, Joker: Folie à Deux slowly danced through its first week with $44.5M. That’s 19% behind the first week of Marvel Studios’ The Marvels, which took home $54.8M. Other previews include the Pharrell Williams LEGO documentary Piece by Piece, which stacked $450K from 1,500 theaters, with analysts expecting a $3M-$9M weekend debut. Toho International’s My Hero Academia: You’re Next punched its way to $413K in previews in 1,845 theaters. You’re Next is a thrilling roller coaster of action, superhero spectacle, and character-building. Check out our full review of My Hero Academia: You’re Next here!

Elsewhere, the SNL origin movie Saturday Night banked $370K in previews, with showtimes beginning at 2 p.m. As positive word of mouth spreads, the film could earn $3M-$5M during the weekends. Finally, Briarcliff Entertainment’s The Apprentice, about a young Donald Trump and his mentor Roy Cohn, borderline bombed with a $150K debut. Critics love The Apprentice, but general audiences could feel Trumped out because of the ongoing and exhaustive election cycle.

Are you going to the movies this weekend? What do you plan on seeing? Let us know in the comments section below.

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In an absolute wild twist of fate at the box office, it’s looking increasingly likely that Terrifier 3, the low-budget slasher flick from Damien Leone, might actually unseat Warner Bros’s $200 million Joker: Folie a Deux at the box office this weekend. A few months ago, this would have been unthinkable, but given how toxic word of mouth has been for Joker, it looks like the film will have a massive drop-off at the box office this weekend after opening to a MUCH lower than expected $37 million.  Morbius and The Marvels, which both had similarly bad openings, dropped off 74% and 78% at the box office in their second weekends, and neither had Joker’s D CinemaScore rating to contend with. I’m expecting Joker 2 to fall about 70%, which would give it an $11 million weekend. 

Terrifier 3, from the indie studio Cineverse, should be able to topple Joker 2. It looks like it will open with at least $12 million—possibly more. The word of mouth has been excellent on this gruesome sequel (our critic Tyler Nichols disliked the other movies in the series but loved this one), and Terrifier 2 proved to be an unexpected hit, so this looks like it might be a big success story for all involved, especially as the cult fervour around the series grows. 

Third place should go to Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night, which has performed well in limited release. The movie tells the story of the hours before the first airing of Saturday Night Live, and it’s earned Reitman his best reviews since Up in the Air (we loved it). It should nab about $10 million. The Wild Robot shouldn’t be too far behind it with about $8 million, while Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice should take fifth place with about $7 million.

Here are our predictions:

1. Terrifier 3: $12 million
2. Joker: Folie a Deux: $11 million
3. Saturday Night: $10 million
4. The Wild Robot: $8 million
5. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: $7 million

Do you think Terrifier 3 will pull off the upset of the season? Let us know in the comments!

The post Box Office Predictions: Could Terrifier 3 beat Joker in the box office battle of the clowns? appeared first on JoBlo.

Joker: Folie à Deux wasn’t meant to be a gamble. After the first film grossed over $1 billion worldwide against a budget of just $60 million, a sequel was a no-brainer. However, the studio wound up spending $200 million (plus $100 million in marketing costs) for a sequel which the fanbase is largely rejecting. So what went wrong? According to a report from Variety, someone really needed to say “no” to Joker: Folie à Deux director Todd Phillips.

The report states that Phillips “wanted nothing to do with DC” during the production of the Joker sequel. Production began just months after James Gunn and Peter Safran took control of DC. It was expected that the pair would provide feedback, but Phillips refused and would only discuss the project with Warner Bros. motion picture group chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy. However, it seemed that Phillips always got his way.

Sources say that the studio wanted to shoot the film in London, where it could have saved millions, but would agree to shoot in Los Angeles if the budget was reduced. The film was shot in Los Angeles. The budget didn’t change. Warner Bros. also wasn’t keen on debuting the film at the Venice Film Festival, especially as Phillips had refused to test screen the sequel. The Venice debut marked the first time an audience had seen the film, and it didn’t go over well. A Warner Bros. spokesperson said, “Given the film contains spoilers, the studio did not want to unnecessarily divulge plot points too early to test audiences, but rather, allow moviegoers to discover the film in their own time.“

The report also wonders whether Joker: Folie à Deux suffered from not having Bradley Cooper involved. He was a producer on the first movie and helped play a part in shaping the film during the editing process. Cooper and Phillips dissolved their partnership in 2021. “No one could get through to Todd,” said a source directly involved with the film. “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.” No one wants to be catered to, but they’re going to a film called Joker because of its connection to the DC character. “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,” said another source. “People showed up because that guy was Joker.“

As it stands, Joker: Folie à Deux will need to make at least $450 million to break even. That seems increasingly unlikely.

Our own Chris Bumbray wasn’t a fan of the sequel, feeling that it only exists because the first movie made a boatload of money. “Perhaps Joker was too big of a hit not to get a sequel, but watching Joker: Folie à Deux, you get the distinct feeling that this was an exercise in style for Phillips rather than a sequel that HAD to be made,” Bumbray wrote. “As it is, though, this Joker sequel spins its wheels and winds up being an often dull courtroom movie livened up by occasional flights of fancy into musical numbers. Those sequences are the best in the film, as without them, this would feel like a wholly unnecessary epilogue to what was originally a pretty powerful film.” You can check out the rest of Bumbray’s review right here, and be sure to let us know what you think of the film as well.

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MAJOR SPOILERS for Joker: Folie à Deux. The much anticipated Joker sequel is now playing in theaters, but unlike the first movie, it doesn’t look as though fans will help it become another billion-dollar success story. Joker: Folie à Deux has proven to be rather divisive, with the ending in particular coming under fire.

If you’ve seen the film, you know that the sequel finds Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) stabbed to death by a fellow inmate, who promptly carves a Glasgow smile into his own face. It was a shocking end for the character, proving that Fleck was never going to become the Joker we know and love. Joker: Folie à Deux director Todd Phillips spoke with Entertainment Weekly to break down the ending and explain why Fleck ultimately rejects his Joker persona.

“He realized that everything is so corrupt, it’s never going to change, and the only way to fix it is to burn it all down,” Phillips said. “When those guards kill that kid in the [hospital] he realizes that dressing up in makeup, putting on this thing, it’s not changing anything. In some ways, he’s accepted the fact that he’s always been Arthur Fleck; he’s never been this thing that’s been put upon him, this idea that Gotham people put on him, that he represents. He’s an unwitting icon. This thing was placed on him, and he doesn’t want to live as a fake anymore — he wants to be who he is.“

Phillips continued, “The sad thing is, he’s Arthur, and nobody cares about Arthur.” The director added that Lady Gaga’s character never refers to him as Arthur until their final interaction. “[She’s] realizing, I’m on a whole other trip, man, you can’t be what I wanted you to be,” he said.

Given the ending to Joker: Folie à Deux, it makes all the more sense why Phillips has said that he doesn’t intend on returning for Joker 3. “It was fun to play in this sort of sandbox for two movies,” he said, “but I think we’ve said what we wanted to say in this world.“

Our own Chris Bumbray wasn’t a fan of the sequel, feeling that it only exists because the first movie made a boatload of money. “Perhaps Joker was too big of a hit not to get a sequel, but watching Joker: Folie à Deux, you get the distinct feeling that this was an exercise in style for Phillips rather than a sequel that HAD to be made,” Bumbray wrote. “As it is, though, this Joker sequel spins its wheels and winds up being an often dull courtroom movie livened up by occasional flights of fancy into musical numbers. Those sequences are the best in the film, as without them, this would feel like a wholly unnecessary epilogue to what was originally a pretty powerful film.” You can check out the rest of Bumbray’s review right here, and be sure to let us know what you think of the film as well.

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Recently, while Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis received criticism from audiences and critics alike, a few filmmaking peers had given their impressions of the film with some high praise. Guillermo Del Toro glowed about the Coppola passion project when he said, “Francis is still the same bold, fearless, inventive filmmaker that he was in his 20’s. I was Swept by Megalopolis!” And Steven Soderbergh, who has the horror film, Presence, coming out, reacted, “WOW! This might be the craziest thing ever shot on American soil. Certainly, one of the most sustained acts of pure imagination I’ve ever seen. I dreamt about it all night—it was inspiring!”

Now that Joker: Folie à Deux has been released, and to its own underwhelming response, one filmmaker that has come to its defense is Coppola. The Megalopolis director, who has been outspoken about the Marvel films, took to his official Instagram account to show his support for the Todd Phillips sequel. He posted a picture of Joker‘s poster with the caption, “@ToddPhillips films always amaze me and I enjoy them thoroughly. Ever since the wonderful The Hangover he’s always one step ahead of the audience never doing what they expect. Congratulations to Joker: Folie à Deux! I am also honored that the films DP, Lawrence Sher, mentioned that the film is visually inspired by One From the Heart.”

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Despite being a sequel to a movie that made a billion dollars worldwide, Joker: Folie à Deux has posted a truly disastrous opening. According to Deadline, the film didn’t even crack $40 million this weekend, with them estimating a dismal $39 million finish.  It seems fans didn’t go for Todd Phillips’s rather ambitious idea to make this a musical, with it peppered with fantasy musical sequences in between some rather dull courtroom melodrama. The star pairing of Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga wasn’t enough to win over fanboys or general audiences, who slammed it with an almost unheard of (for a comic book movie) D CinemaScore rating.

In his review for Joker: Folie à Deux, JoBlo’s Chris Bumbray stated, “As such, the audience who cosplayed Joker and Harley Quinn at the screening I attended couldn’t help but look a little dejected as the credits rolled. The film lacked the same kind of impact the original movie had despite a longer, bloated running time and a much heftier budget.”

The post Francis Ford Coppola lends his support to Joker: Folie à Deux appeared first on JoBlo.

Despite being a sequel to a movie that made a billion dollars worldwide, Joker: Folie à Deux has posted a truly disastrous opening. According to Deadline, the film didn’t even crack $40 million this weekend, with them estimating a horrible $39 million finish. That’s over $20 million less than we expected in our box office predictions, which is crazy as just a few months ago, no one would have thought it conceivable that the film would open to anything less than $90 or so million. The $39 million opening is even worse than the $55 million opening posted by The Flash, and The Marvels, which opened with $46 million. Both openings were considered disastrous, and Joker: Folie à Deux looks like it might not even cross $100 million domestically.

So what happened? It seems fans didn’t go for Todd Phillips’s rather ambitious idea to make this a musical, with it peppered with fantasy musical sequences in between some rather dull courtroom melodrama. The star pairing of Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga wasn’t enough to win over fanboys or general audiences, who slammed it with an almost unheard of (for a comic book movie) D CinemaScore rating. With word of mouth like this, expect this Joker film to quickly crash and burn at the box office over the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, The Wild Robot held up quite well this week, making $18.7 million, a fall of just 46%, for a $63.9 million total. While it’s not going to be a huge blockbuster as far as animated movies go, expect it to have strong legs in the weeks ahead thanks to its terrific reviews (including a rave from our own Steve Seigh). Beetlejuice Beetlejuice also held firm at the box office, with it dipping 36% to $10.3 million and a massive $265.5 million total, which is a much-needed win for WB, who are no doubt reeling from Furiosa, Horizon, and Joker 2 all flopping.

Sadly, Paramount’s very decent Transformers One continued to struggle to find an audience despite good word of mouth. It only made $5.35 million this weekend, with a $47 million total. Blumhouse’s Speak No Evil continued to pull in solid numbers, with a $2.8 million fifth-place finish and a $32 million domestic total.

In a surprising move, YouTube stars Sam & Colby managed to eke out a sixth-place finish for their film, Sam & Colby: The Legends of Paranormal, which made $1.77 million, for a $2 million total. With more YouTubers expanding their reach, expect more movies like this to start showing up in the top 10. In seventh place was Deadpool & Wolverine, which made $1.55 million for a $633.8 million total, with it also showing up on digital this week (Disney made a wise move holding it for so long). Lionsgate had yet another flop this weekend, with their Wonder prequel, White Bird, having an abysmal $1.5 million opening. Mubi’s The Substance has proven to be a solid art-house horror hit, with the $1.4 million weekend almost allowing it to crack the $10 million mark. Finally, Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis lost a whopping 73% of its audience to earn just over $1 million this weekend for a terrible $6.45 million total.

Next weekend seems like it will be disappointing, as it’s fairly light on new releases, and Hollywood no doubt thought Joker 2 would be packing them in. There likely won’t be any real fireworks until Smile 2 opens in two weeks.

Did you go see Joker 2 this weekend? Let us know in the comments! 

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