‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ Flops With Lower-Than-Projected $37 Million Box Office Debut

“Joker: Folie à Deux” suffered an even worse box office debut than initially expected. The off-beat comic book sequel, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, brought in a tragic $37.8 million in its first weekend of release. By comparison, the original “Joker” earned $39 million on Friday alone in 2019.

Initial tracking was closer to $70 million, but those projections shrank dramatically in recent weeks to $50 million to $60 million. Monday’s final tally is below Sunday’s estimate of $40 million, which was flop territory for the $200 million-budgeted tentpole. With bad buzz and terrible word-of-mouth (including a rare “D” grade on CinemaScore), “Joker 2” didn’t come close to matching the start of “Joker,” which set an October opening weekend record with $96.2 million. The polarizing reception will likely doom its big-screen staying power. 

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“Folie à Deux” was far bigger at the international box office while also launching behind expectations with $77 million from 76 overseas markets. The studio’s projection on Sunday was $81.1 million internationally. Globally, “Joker 2” has earned $114.8 million to date. But the Warner Bros. film will need to keep singing (and singing, and singing) to get anywhere near the foreign receipts of its predecessor.

The original “Joker” was massively successful, earning $335 million domestically and $743 million internationally for a global tally of $1.078 billion. At the time, it was the biggest R-rated movie in history, though “Deadpool & Wolverine” supplanted that record over the summer with $1.32 billion. “Joker” cost roughly $60 million, so it was also hugely profitable. Much of the reason for the sequel’s inflated budget were fees for Phillips, Phoenix (returning in his Oscar-winning role as disturbed standup Arthur Fleck) and Gaga (joining as fellow Arkham Asylum inmate Harleen “Lee” Quinzel). While the first film was a dark, grisly drama that took inspiration from “Taxi Driver” and other Martin Scorsese works, the second plays as a fantasy musical — including covers of songs such as “That’s Life,” “Get Happy” and “For Once in My Life” — as Arthur Fleck serves time and awaits trial for murder.

“I think the musical element was the wrong direction,” says Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations. “If you look at what made ‘Joker’ a hit, it was going to darker places. Todd Phillips wanted to do something completely different. But if you aren’t giving audiences what they want, I’m not sure who you’re serving.”