Joker 2 (titled Folie à deux), with Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, has just been released in the United States and it is a big disappointment at the box office.
Five years after the success of the first opus (55 million production budget for more than a billion revenues worldwide, according to Box-office Mojo), Joker: Folie à deux comes out in the cinema. Repetitive, navel-gazing and parasitized by megalomania by Joaquin Phoenix, the new film directed by Todd Phillips did not convince us Ecran Large. Box office wise? Joker 2 was released in the United States this weekend, and its start is a big disappointment.
Joker 2, heads or jokes
Indeed, Joker 2 would have harvested in the $40 million in its opening weekendin 4,102 American theaters. This is a figure well below industry estimates, which were around 50 and 65 million in revenue. We are also very far from the start of the Joker of 2019, which had raised $96 million in three days of operation (without taking into account inflation).
A gap all the more significant if the first opus was produced for 55 million (Box-office Mojo), the production budget of Folie à deux would be more between 190 million (Deadline) and 200 million (Variety). 200 million dollars is the official production budget of a Spider-Man : No Way Home (JP box-office).
The film directed by Todd Phillips signs a start less than The Marvels (46 millions), The Flash (55 million) and comparable to Morbius (39 million). The parallel is not very glorious, since with a production budget of 220 million dollars (JP box-office) The Marvels ended its run at the box office at 206 million worldwide revenues and The Flash to 271 million. Morbiusfor its part, cost 75 million dollars and did not reach 74 million in revenue on American soil in 2022.
Towards a big belly that tries to Joker 2 ? What is certain is that Warner will hardly be able to count on word of mouth around the film, given the quality of its critical reception. Indeed, Folie à deux received on CinemaScore the first D in the history of comic book adaptations for cinema. On Rotten Tomatoesthe film with Joaquin Phoenix collected 33%, with 258 admissions. As a reminder, Joker 2 is available in our French cinemas since October 2.
