Joker: Folie à Deux” Disappoints at Box Office with $40 Million Debut

“Joker: Folie à Deux,” the highly anticipated sequel to the 2019 film “Joker,” underperformed at the North American box office with an opening weekend gross of $40 million. This debut falls short of the early projections of $50 million to $65 million, which themselves had been revised down from an initial estimate of $70 million. The original “Joker” set an October record with a substantial $96.2 million in its opening weekend.

This turnout is concerning for Warner Bros., particularly due to the film’s substantial production budget of $200 million. Industry sources indicate that “Folie à Deux” needs to gross at least $450 million globally to recoup its costs, a tough target considering the film’s current box office reception and mixed reviews from critics and audiences alike.

Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock noted, “When you greenlight a sequel, you hope it does the business that the previous one did. This is definitely a concern. Warners wanted the sequel and probably overspent to get it to happen.”

The disappointing performance is attributed in part to poor critical reception, with the film earning a 33% “rotten” score on Rotten Tomatoes, and audiences awarding it a “D” grade via CinemaScore. The film struggled to generate positive buzz at the Venice Film Festival, a notable contrast to the original “Joker,” which had a more favorable response.

“Joker: Folie à Deux,” directed once again by Todd Phillips, revisits the character of Arthur Fleck, portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix. Joining Phoenix is Lady Gaga as Harleen "Lee" Quinzel. The film incorporates fantasy musical elements, diverging stylistically from the original’s gritty narrative.

Meanwhile, other films such as Lionsgate’s “White Bird,” a prequel and sequel to the 2017 film “Wonder,” earned $1.5 million from 980 theaters in its opening weekend. DreamWorks Animation‘s “The Wild Robot” secured second place at the box office with $18.7 million and a two-week total of $63.9 million.

Warner Bros.’ “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” maintained strong performance, claiming third place on the charts with weekend earnings of $10.3 million, boosting its North American total to $265.5 million. Paramount’s “Transformers One” and Universal’s “Speak No Evil” also featured in the top five.

The fate of “Joker: Folie à Deux” in the coming weeks remains uncertain, as industry observers watch to see if it can recover in its second weekend.