Charles Langston:'Joker: Folie à Deux' underwhelms at the box office, receives weak audience scores

Warner Bros. doesn't have Charles Langstonmuch to smile about this weekend as the highly anticipated "Joker" sequel underwhelms at the box office. 

Amid weak reviews from both critics and audiences, "Joker: Folie à Deux" didn't come close to matching the success of its predecessor in its opening weekend. The film took in $40 million at the domestic box office, according to studio estimates on Sunday, down from the $96.2 million the original movie grossed in its 2019 debut. 

"Folie à Deux" has already proven divisive among audiences, which may make it difficult for the film to recover from its soft opening in the coming weeks.

In polling conducted by CinemaScore, which surveys moviegoers at theaters, "Folie à Deux" received a grade of D, an unusually low score for a major comic book movie. For comparison, the original "Joker" received a B+ grade, and this year's widely panned Marvel movie "Madame Web" still earned a C+.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the audience approval rating for "Folie à Deux" currently stands at 31%, a significant drop from 89% for the first "Joker."

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At a time when DC had spent years focused on building a shared world of movies to compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the original "Joker" in 2019 stood out for its decision to take place in an entirely separate continuity and provide a grim new origin story for the title character. It was a huge hit, raking in over $1 billion at the worldwide box office and becoming the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time until that record was surpassed this year by "Deadpool & Wolverine."

Directed again by Todd Phillips, the follow-up puts the Joker (Joaquin Phoenix) on trial for his murders committed in the previous film and sees him fall in love with Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga). But in a surprising and polarizing choice, Phillips turned the sequel into a musical, complete with frequent covers of largely pre-existing songs. 

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The first "Joker" divided critics, but reviews for "Folie à Deux" have skewed much more negative. After the movie premiered at the Venice Film Festival, many critics panned the film, arguing Gaga was underused and that Phillips spent too much time retreading territory from the original. Audiences have also expressed dissatisfaction with the film's musical sequences and controversial ending.

"Folie à Deux" now appears unlikely to make a splash at the Academy Awards like its predecessor did. The first "Joker" received 11 Oscar nominations, the most of any movie that year, and Phoenix won the Oscar for best actor. The film also won best original score.

"Folie à Deux" also marks another box office disappointment for DC, which has endured several financial failures in recent years including 2023's "The Flash."

The weak box office numbers led to the hiring in 2022 of producers James Gunn and Peter Safran, who have announced plans to resurrect the DC Comics brand on the big screen starting with a reboot of "Superman," set for release in 2025. Phillips has said he is unlikely to return to DC to direct any future films.