Joker: Folie A Deux struggles at North American box office with $52m debut

LOS ANGELES – The original Joker film in 2019 earned 11 Oscar nominations, US$1 billion in global box-office receipts and created a cultural phenomenon. So, it was inevitable that Warner Bros would make a sequel, with the same director, Todd Phillips, and star, Joaquin Phoenix.

More of a surprise is that the new film was dismissed by its audience over the weekend.

Titled Joker: Folie A Deux, and featuring American singer Lady Gaga as Phoenix’s love interest and partner-in-crime, the bleak NC16-rated musical drama is on track to open to about US$40 million (S$52 million) in North America, significantly less than what the 2019 version made on its first weekend. The studio will now struggle to earn back its production budget of around US$200 million, plus its hefty marketing costs.

Reviews have been dismal. The New York Times called it “a dour, unpleasant slog”, and audiences awarded it a D score in exit polls, according to tracker CinemaScore.

The musical element – an idea that apparently came to Phoenix in a dream – offered audiences a fresh idea and, to many critics, it served as the proper way to further explore a deranged main character with a warped imagination. But in this case, it alienated the typical fanboy audience, who would be expected to have been frothing for a follow-up to the nihilistic film that won Phoenix his Best Actor Oscar in 2020.

The opening draw is a far cry from the US$96 million Joker generated in its first weekend five years ago, almost to the day. That film cost US$55 million to make.

This one is contained primarily to two locations – Arkham Asylum, which houses Arthur Fleck, also known as the Joker, after his murderous spree killed six people; and the courthouse, where he is being tried for his crimes. So, it should not have cost as much.

But everyone was paid handsomely for their efforts, under the new production heads at Warner Bros – Mr Michael De Luca and Ms Pamela Abdy. Trade reports indicate that Phoenix received US$20 million to reprise his role of Arthur Fleck/Joker, while Lady Gaga earned US$12 million to return to the bleak world of Phillips’ creation.

“Lady Gaga in a musical was an unconventional choice,” Mr David Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter on box-office numbers, said in an e-mail. “Joker was a well-made character study about a dark, sad figure. That story had limited potential to grow, and Folie A Deux is not overcoming it.”

With overall box-office receipts down 12 per cent compared with 2023 at this time, Hollywood was looking for a big hit to kick off October and help the studios stoke momentum through the rest of the year.

Now, it looks as if it will have to rely on Venom: The Last Dance and the Thanksgiving movies – Wicked, Gladiator 2 and Moana 2 – to recover. NYTIMES