The final weekend numbers are in for Joker: Folie à Deux, and they aren’t pretty. What was initially estimated as a $39 million opening has now been revised to $37 million. To put that in perspective, the Joker sequel had a lower opening than Morbius. When those kind of numbers are weighed against a $190-200 million budget, someone typically loses their job. But in the case of Joker, the Warner Bros. studio executives are likely to get through it. Instead, most of the blame has been centered around director Todd Phillips.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Phillips was given $20 million to direct the film as well as “an extraordinary level of autonomy and final cut.” That means he had full creative control over the film, which was not screened for test audiences. Stars Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga reportedly earned $20 million and $12 million, respectively; which only increased the film’s massive budget.
It was Phillips’ decision to incorporate musical numbers into the sequel, after Phoenix was initially inspired by a dream to suggest making it a Broadway play. The tonal change from the first movie proved to be massively unpopular with the audience, as Folie à Deux landed with a D CinemaScore–the lowest in the history of modern comic book movies–while critics also tore it apart. That helped keep undecided moviegoers from seeing it over the weekend.
Warning: There are spoilers ahead for the end of Joker: Folie à Deux. Stop reading now if you don’t want to know how it ends.
The ending of Folie à Deux has also been very polarizing, but it’s something that Phillips wanted to use in the first movie. THR notes that Joker’s conclusion would have featured Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck cutting a Glasgow smile on his face, much like Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight. Christopher Nolan reportedly objected to that ending while he was still at Warner Bros., but since Nolan has subsequently left WB, Phillips revisited the idea in Folie à Deux and was able to use it this time.
It’s too soon to say how much money Joker: Folie à Deux will cost the studio, but an early estimate is $150 million. Phillips doesn’t have his next movie at Warner Bros. lined up. But because he’s proven successful before, Joker 2’s failures won’t prevent him from getting another one.
