Joker 2 Report Details What Went Wrong With Todd Phillips' DC Movie Sequel

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Almost exactly five years ago, the industry as a whole had been slathering on their own clown makeup in celebration of the fact that director Todd Phillips R-rated "Joker" defied all expectations and pre-release backlash on its way to a billion-dollar heist at the box office. This October has unfolded slightly differently, unfortunately. The long-awaited sequel seemed like a slam dunk. Taking a Best Actor-worthy performance, adding Lady Gaga to the mix as a co-lead, and tripling down on the original movie's pitch-black tone? What could go wrong!

As it turns out? A heck of a lot could go wrong. Dismal tracking numbers, a muted reception following its film festival premiere, and unfathomably bad audience scores all combined into one perfect storm to sink "Joker: Folie À Deux" before it could even get started. Naturally, blame quickly came pouring in from all directions and pointed towards all sorts of different targets. Did jilted audiences feel tricked by a months-long marketing campaign attempting to hide the fact that the sequel was a musical all along? Did a skyrocketing budget and an even buzzier (read: more expensive) cast of A-listers further contribute to what almost assuredly looks like a flop? Did the studio perhaps place a bit too much trust in its director, sight unseen?

We'll be unpacking the fallout of "Joker: Folie À Deux" for months (if not years) to come, but a new report by Hollywood insider Matthew Belloni claims to know where it all went wrong. The answer, apparently, might very well be "all of the above."

Joker 2 was a victim of its predecessor's success

You know what, maybe Todd Phillips was onto something when he put Joaquin Phoenix's Joker on trial for practically the entire duration of "Joker: Folie À Deux." That basically mirrors the general public's overall reaction to the misfiring sequel, though it bears noting that /Film's own Bill Bria gave the film a glowing review. Few could've predicted such a stunning turn of events this time around, however, and Warner Bros. has been left scrambling to pick up the pieces. According to Matthew Belloni's latest installment of his Puck newsletter, there's a few perfectly practical reasons why even a team up between Joker and Harley Quinn (excuse me, make that Lee Quinzel) couldn't save these clowns from turning into a circus.

Reportedly, it all stems from the fact that the original "Joker" became such a breakthrough hit. After all, it's only natural for studio executives to take on glance at a movie that earned well over a billion dollars worldwide and give a returning director like Phillips a much longer leash. Unfortunately, that manifested through an exorbitant, super-charged budget that shot up to nearly $200 million — more than $50 million of which went to the salaries of Phoenix, Lady Gaga, and Phillips alone, says Belloni. Another $30 million in costs came from the choice to film in Los Angeles as opposed to the tax-friendly confines of London, like the first movie. When you consider the vast majority of the movie is set in dimly-lit interiors of a mental asylum, a single courtroom set, and a handful of on-location scenes, one has to wonder: where in Gotham did all that money even go? 

In a vacuum, an opening weekend of around $40 million would be an unmitigated success ... especially for an R-rated courtroom drama with musical aspects. But when considering the bloated budget, a provocative script that was never going to curry favor among fanboys (look no further than that divisive ending), and a full five years to drum up hype, the results can only be seen as disastrous.

Joker 2 didn't bother with any test screenings, either

Perhaps the most intriguing factor in this slow-motion car crash, however, comes from the amount of faith that Warner Bros. showed in the brand and (by extension) Todd Phillips himself. The Puck newsletter points out the first of the studio's missteps: the decision to premiere "Joker: Folie À Deux" at the prestigious Venice Film Festival. We've already seen what happens when blockbuster genre movies are ushered into the overseas film festival circuit when they never stood a realistic chance of impressing those in attendance — remember Disney's baffling move to debut "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" at Cannes, of all places? In this case, the decidedly mixed reaction to "Folie À Deux" all but sealed the sequel's fate in critical circles. According to Belloni, this was only done in an attempt at "appeasing" a director who has raked in so much money for them before. (Remember, "The Hangover" movies performed like gangbusters for Warner Bros. in the past and that inspires a certain amount of loyalty.)

Adding insult to injury, giving final cut to Phillips meant that he had total free rein to make perhaps the most off-putting and unexpected version of a "Joker" sequel that fans could possibly imagine. That meant the studio had little control over the fact that it was secretly a musical, the script hardly featured much screen time for Lady Gaga, and even went so far as to end any prospects of future movies in this franchise. And then there's the news that the studio opted not to test the film ahead of release and gauge audience reactions. According to Puck, that complicated Warner Bros.' ability to fine tune an effective marketing campaign.

Add all of these factors together and, well, of course the final result was exactly what we got. Stay tuned to /Film for more analysis of what went wrong. "Joker: Folie À Deux" is currently playing in theaters.