Folie à Deux' Falls Flat at the box office, Lands D CinemaScore

This isn't a joke.

Sequel to Todd Phillips Joker: Folie à Deux made history by becoming the first Hollywood comic book film to receive a D CinemaScore from audiences. The exit polls are equally dismal as viewers express their dissatisfaction with the sequel.

This dissatisfaction leads to a difficult start at the box office, where the Warner Bros. film falls well short of expectations. The controversial sequel brought in just under $20 million on Friday, including $7 million in previews, for a projected opening of over $50 million. Competing studios show that the Joaquin Phoenix – Lady Gaga film will open between $42 million and $47 million (one studio even estimates $40 million or less).

On the way into the weekend, Joker 2 It was expected to gross $50 million to $60 million. That was less than the $70 million expected three weeks ago when the picture first aired.

In 2019 joker debuted to a dreamy $96.2 million on its way to a record-breaking worldwide total of $1 billion.

Phillips' polarizing R-rated sequel, which world premiered at the Venice Film Festival to mixed reviews, is a genre-bending, music-infused film that moves outside the comfort zone of the typical fanboy-fueled comic book pic. Even more concerning than Thursday night's gross are the terrible exit results at PostTrak, where audiences are giving it a half star out of five, similar to Thursday night's result for Francis Ford Coppola Megalopoliswhich spectacularly grossed $4 million last weekend after receiving a D+ CinemaScore. (joker's PostTrak could ultimately change over the course of the weekend.)

Even superhero films that fail at the box office usually achieve decent CinemaScores. Marvel Studios' The miracleswhich opened last year with a paltry $46.2 million, the film received a B. Ditto for its fellow Warners film The lightningwhich grossed a troubled $55 million domestically.

Fanboy sites were quick to point out the historical significance of the D grade Joker: Folie à Deux late Friday evening. And the first joker I didn't even earn an A, but a B+.

During 2019 joker Compared to Martin Scorsese's previous works, the sequel is a much slower journey that focuses on the inner lives of the two leads. Critics praised the film's overall beauty, its performances, and its craft, but criticized it for its narrative. “For a film that lasts two and a half hours, film For two feels a bit narratively thin and boring at times,” he wrote The Hollywood Reporter's chief film critic David Rooney from Venice.

Regardless of its box office, the film still hopes to play a major role in the Oscar race, especially because of Phoenix and Gaga's performances.

Overseas, Joker 2 opens this weekend everywhere except Japan and China, where it launches in the coming weeks. Warners is hoping for a foreign debut of $80 million to $85 million.

Joker: Folie à Deux reunites Phillips with Phoenix, who returns in the title role after winning the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of Arthur Fleck/Joker. Neither Phillips nor Phoenix were sure whether they would make a sequel, and for a time considered putting on a Broadway show instead before ultimately settling on the film.

The first joker Production before marketing only cost $55 million. Following its success, Phillips received a net production budget of $190–200 million for the second part. Part of that went into bringing Gaga on board in a role inspired by the comic book character Harley Quinn (the filmmakers hope she will attract female moviegoers).

Much of the film is fantasy musical with the couple meeting while Arthur is awaiting trial at Arkham Asylum for his crimes from the first film. However, neither Warners nor Phillips feel comfortable calling it a straight musical, as only two of the characters sing, unlike a traditional musical, which typically has dozens of people taking part in the numbers.

The studio's marketing materials refrained from highlighting the film's numerous musical sequences, just as they did in sales Wonkaan official musical. Warners is not alone; Paramount didn't market either Mean Girls as a musical.

Phillips is well aware that the sequel is unorthodox in that it doesn't fully follow on from the end of jokerin which Arthur embraces his alter ego. At the premiere in Los Angeles on Monday, Phillips thanked the studio “for this bold step” and added, “It's not necessarily the sequel you'd expect.”

The numbers will be updated on Sunday morning.