Joker: Folie à deux starts very poorly at the Chinese box office, who was the last little hope for the film with Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga.
It seems a long time ago when Hollywood films made a breakthrough in China, with Marvel’s incredible scores (more than 639 million for Avengers : Endgame), Fast & Furious (more than 390 million for F&F7 et F&F8), Transformers (more than 300 million for Age of Extinction), or even DC (291 million for the first Aquaman).
After a period of miraculous understanding, the door has almost closed, with significantly less space and revenue for American studios – Variety speaks of a 15% drop in foreign films on this market in 2023. And even if the success ofAlien : Romulus has proven that this market sometimes remains valuable, it is now less obvious.
Latest proof to date: Joker 2. Without even being released in China in 2019, the first had grossed more than a billion at the global box office. Since the sequel Joker: Folie à deux crashes all over the world, it would have been good needed a helping hand from China to limit breakage. This did not happen, since the film with Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga also wallows in China.
NO CHINESE JOKER
Joker: Folie à deux was released on October 16, 2024 in China, and it was a no-brainer. The first Joker was not entitled to it, probably because of its violence and the political climate of the time – a wave of protests in Hong Kong against Chinese interference, knowing that the Joker mask was gradually appearing in demonstrations.
For its release over a five-day weekend, Joker: Folie à deux did not spark. According to Varietythe to land in second place behind the release of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (another Warner Bros. film). The figures are not very precise, with on the one hand 4.6 million over two days for Harry Potter 2and 5.9 million over five days for Joker 2. More Variety seems certain that Gotham’s clown has lost the battle.
The relaunch of the saga Harry Potter in China is a big operation for Warner. Since mid-October and with a new episode every week, the saga has been broadcast in more than 3,400 theaters in China. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone had collected 6.6 million for its first weekend.
JOKER’S WORLD BID 2
China was one of the last major territories for Joker: Folie à deuxindeed doomed to be a commercial failure at the box office. The film directed by Todd Phillips has so far received $191 million worldwidewhat the first Joker had reached in just a few days. And it’s always behind films adapted from comics considered to be flops, like The Marvels (206 millions), The Flash (271 millions), Black Adam (393 millions), Aquaman 2 (439 million) or even Ant-Man 3 (476 millions).
This is an absolutely disastrous score given the budget estimated at $200 million (including the salaries of the star trio: 20 million for Joaquin Phoenix, 20 million for Todd Phillips, and 12 million for Lady Gaga). The first Joker had cost around 60 million, and had exceeded 1 billion at the box office.
At all levels, Joker 2 crashes. At the domestic box office, where studios make the most revenue, the sequel started with only $37 million, compared to $96 million for Joker. With a record drop in attendance for its second weekend (-81.4%, worse than The Marvels), his career seemed already settled. The film is now plateauing at 56 million, far from the 335 million of the previous one.
Au box-office international, Folie à deux is satisfied with 135 million, light years away from the 743 million Joker. Joker 2 so go join the list of failures of 2024alongside Madame Web, Borderlands, The Crow, Megalopolis, For Argy, The Fall Guyor even Furious. Et Variety estimates that it will be a loss of 150-200 million for Warner Bros.. on the operation of rooms.
