The news continues to be no laughing matter for Joker: Folie à Deux following a second weekend at the box office that confirmed the Joker sequel will come nowhere close to matching the financial levels of its 2019 predecessor. A lot of money is about to be lost on the project, as it has become clear reports that the movie has no chance of breaking even during its theatrical run.
Per Variety, Joker: Folie à Deux could possibly lose Warner Bros. $150 million to $200 million by the end of its theatrical run. Due to the film’s sizable budget ($200 million) and marketing costs (a reported $100 million), the movie would need to gross nearly $450 million just to break even, since studios and theater owners split ticket sales. For those keeping score at home, Warner Bros. canceled the $90 million Batgirl and used it as a tax write-off in a move that still upsets fans and the greater movie industry alike. Batgirl would’ve been a cheaper gamble, even if it didn’t perform up to expectations, although no one can totally fault Warner Bros. for moving ahead with the Joker sequel, since the 2019 film grossed a staggering $1.078 billion worldwide.
In 2019, Joker played things a bit safer in terms of the money being spent because, despite the popularity of the Joker character, it wasn’t a surefire guarantee that the film would be a huge hit, let alone the billion-dollar grosser that it became. Joker was a very dark movie, and not just in the Tim Burton Batman sense. Rather than featuring a fantastical Gotham, the film brought everything down to ground level, with a disturbing psychological dive into the mind of the central character. The lack of excessive special effects and additional costs that usually accompany any comic book movie, the studio spent a safe $65 million on the project. Despite polarizing reviews, the film became an awards season player, won two Academy Awards (with Joaquin Phoenix taking home Best Actor for portraying Arthur Fleck). That being said, during the film’s promotional run, it was frequently mentioned by most involved that the movie would be a standalone one-off and that a sequel wasn’t in the cards. Again, money changes things.
Joker: Folie à Deux Should’ve Kept Costs Down
It can be debated whether making the sequel was a mistake, but regardless of any opinions on that matter, the film could still have been saved if it had regarded its budget in a more thrifty way. Ballooning from the $65 million of the first movie to $200 million for the sequel feels completely absurd for a film like Joker: Folie à Deux, which easily could’ve come in lower even with increased paydays for the actors involved. Phoenix received a reported $20 million to return as Fleck, and the same goes for director Todd Phillips, while Lady Gaga commanded $12 million to co-star as Harleen “Lee” Quinzel. If the talent was going to get money like this, perhaps the budget should’ve been reined in elsewhere to compensate.
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Why Joker: Folie à Deux Bombed at the Box Office
Unlike the polarizing Joker, audiences and critics are united in their hatred of Joker: Folie à Deux.
The writing was on the wall for Joker: Folie à Deux after its opening weekend when the movie grossed a mere $37 million, down considerably from the $96.2 million debut of the first film. Throw in dismal reviews (33 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) and poor word of mouth from moviegoers (the movie earned a “D” CinemaScore from opening night audiences), it was clear where this film was headed. The news was even more dire following the film’s second weekend, with the movie pulling in just $7.1 million – an 81.3% drop from its debut.
To put this into perspective, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice out-grossed the film in the final actuals of the weekend, and that was in its sixth weekend at the box office. Thankfully for Warner Bros., they’re behind the Beetlejuice sequel, so its current domestic take of $275.6 million, a worldwide haul of $420.3 million, is much-needed good news for the studio.
As of this writing, Joker: Folie à Deux has grossed $51.6 million domestically and $165.3 million worldwide, with reports saying a final domestic take of $65 million is in the cards while its global footprint should stall at $215 million. To get out ahead of the bad publicity about how much the film is expected to lose for the studio, a Warner Bros. spokesperson has said that estimates of that figure from “anonymous insiders” or “rival executives” are merely a rumor, and points to the film still having to open in China.
“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. 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.”