The box office performance of ‘Joker: Folie a Deux‘ over the weekend was no joking matter – at least not to execs at Warner Bros. who were undoubtedly stunned to see how critically and commercially panned the set was.

Starring Academy Award winners Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga in its leading roles of iconic DC Comics characters The Joker and Harley Quinn, hopes were high for the Todd Phillips-directed film as its predecessor – 2019’s ‘Joker’ – not only swept the succeeding awards season but also laughed its way to over $1 billion in revenue.

At present, its follow-up – despite being the #1 film in America this week – doesn’t look poised to boast the same.

Despite an aggressive promotional run that saw its stars engage in quite the media blitz on some of the industry’s biggest outlets, Joker: Folie à Deux’ still opened to $40 million in ticket sales.

That figure represents less than half of the $96.2 million 2019’s ‘Joker’ opened to domestically.

What’s more, critics unceremoniously roasted the film as CinemaScore gave it a “D” (which is reportedly the lowest grade any comic book movie has ever received).  Many domestic moviegoers echoed the sentiment with some even taking to social media to bemoan the movie’s plot, musical element, and more.

Not all was a wash amid the sea of bad press, however.

‘Folie a Deux’ not only managed to top Stateside box offices, but also fared well overseas where it opened to $81 million. The latter number doesn’t include Japan or China – two markets that comic book movies typically perform well in.

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