‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ Falling Flat at Box Office After Receiving an Unprecedented D CinemaScore

It is not looking good for Warner Bros.’ “Joker: Folie a Deux,” which is seeing its box office estimates slide further as poor reviews from opening night audiences, including the lowest ever CinemaScore grade for a comic book film.

That unhappiness is translating into a troubled opening at the box office, where the Warner Bros. movie is coming in well behind expectations. The divisive sequel earned a soft $20 million on Friday, including $7 million in previews, for a projected launch south of $50 million. Rival studios show the Joaquin Phoenix–Lady Gaga film opening anywhere from $42 million to $47 million (one studio even thinks $40 million or less).

Heading into the weekend, Joker 2 was expected to do $50 million to $60 million. That was down from the $70 million expected three weeks ago when the pic first came on tracking.

In 2019, Joker debuted to a dreamy $96.2 million on its way to a record-shattering worldwide total of $1 billion.

Phillips’ polarizing, R-rated sequel — which made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival to mixed reviews — is a genre-busting, music-infused film that strays outside the comfort zone of the typical fanboy-fueled comic book pic. More worrisome than Thursday’s night gross is terrible exit scores on PostTrak, with audiences giving it a half-star out of five, similar to the Thursday night score for Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, which bombed in spectacular fashion last weekend with $4 million after earning a D+ CinemaScore. (Joker‘s PostTrak could ultimately change as the weekend goes on.)

Regardless of its box office performance, the movie still hopes to be a major player in the Oscars race, particularly for Phoenix and Gaga’s performances.

Numbers will be updated Sunday morning.

via: The Hollywood Reporter

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