Joker: Folie à Deux bombs with a sub-$40 million opening weekend but takes the No. 1 spot at the box office.
The Joker has been a Clown, a Comedian, a Criminal — and now, a Catastrophe. It has been reported that director Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux debuted to a disastrous $40 million domestically over the weekend, but the actual number may be closer to $37.5 million, per box office analyst Charlie Jatinder. 2019’s Joker — which grossed $39.3 million on its first Friday — went on to earn $96 million and set the record for the biggest October opening of all time over the same time frame five years ago.
Initial industry expectations had Joker 2 opening upwards of $70 million, but that number fell to anywhere between $50 million to $60 million following poor critical reception and toxic word-of-mouth. The underperformance came in below the lower end of projections that put the Joker sequel within range of box office flops The Marvels ($46 million) and The Flash ($55 million).
A sub-$40 million opening weekend would place Joker 2 behind the Jared Leto-fronted double flop Morbius, the Sony Spider-Man Universe spinoff that sank its teeth into a $39 million opening weekend before finishing its box office run with an anemic $162 million worldwide.
Part jukebox musical and part court room drama, Joker 2 is “just crashing and burning,” Gitesh Pandya, founder and editor of Box Office Guru, tweeted on X. “Opening weekend box office will still be No. 1, but now breaking $40 million seems unlikely. Below [The] Marvels & Morbius territory.”
That puts Joker 2 on course for a final domestic tally around $70 million — only a fraction of the $335 million domestic earned by the original, which went on to become the first R-rated movie to cross the $1 billion mark. Joker received a B+ grade from opening-night moviegoers compared to Joker: Folie à Deux’s D CinemaScore, the worst grade ever for a comic book-based movie.
The first Joker netted $437 million in profit against a budget of $70 million budget, which Warner Bros. financed with partners Bron Creative and Village Roadshow Pictures contributing 25% each, according to Deadline. On the sequel, however, Warners spent a reported $190 million, this time without outside financial contributors besides Joint Effort (the production company Phillips formed with his Hangover star Bradley Cooper in 2014). Joker 2 would need to clear at least $500 million worldwide before it begins to break even — a number that is about as likely as a Joker 3.