Joker Sequel Gets Poor Reviews, Flops at Box Office
Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel to Todd Phillips' 2019 origin story about the Batman villain, is the number one movie at the US box office, but it's not on its way to a happy ending.
The film opened in US theaters on October 4 and made just $40 million in its first weekend, according to studio estimates — less than half the $96.2 million the first Joker movie made when it debuted in October 2019.
And although $40 million would be a respectable debut for a less expensive movie, Joker: Folie à Deux cost at least twice as much as the first film to produce. Reports vary as to exactly how much the sequel cost, but some have said $190 million.
Movie critics have also not been kind. After its first weekend in theaters, the sequel's review score on the Rotten Tomatoes website was just 33%. Ticket buyers surveyed on opening night by CinemaScore gave the film a D.
So how did the sequel to an Oscar-winning film with the same creative team go wrong?
Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix have said they wanted to make something as "audacious" as the first movie. The sequel further explored the mind of Arthur Fleck, now in prison, and added Lady Gaga as a Joker superfan. It's also a musical, with song and dance routines.
Deadline's Anthony D'Alessandro thinks the songs were a mistake. "No fan of the original movie wanted to see a musical sequel," he wrote.
Movie director Francis Ford Coppola, however, has defended the film on Instagram.
"@ToddPhillips films always amaze me and I enjoy them thoroughly," Coppola wrote. "Ever since the wonderful 'The Hangover' he's always one step ahead of the audience never doing what they expect."
Internationally, the new Joker movie earned $81.1 million its first weekend, for a global total estimated at $121.1 million.
