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Writer's pictureKris Avalon

Box Office: ‘Joker 2’ Stumbles With Lackluster $40 Million Debut


“Joker: Folie à Deux,” a genre-bending sequel to the billion-dollar comic book smash, hit a sour note at the box office even as it opened to No. 1 with $40 million.



When looking at the list of upcoming DC movies, Joker 2 was the last before James Gunn's DC Universe truly begins with Superman in 2025. As such, a great deal of attention was placed on Joker: Folie à Deux, not only to gauge how DC's Elseworlds properties will fare moving forward but also due to the first movie's overwhelming success.


By the time of Joker: Folie à Deux's ending, many were disappointed by the sequel. The attention it received pre-release proved not to extend into positive reviews as, despite Joker 2's promising cast and craftsmanship, the story proved not to resonate with critics and audiences alike. This immediately led attention to turn to how the film would perform at the box office, especially given Joker: Folie à Deux's massive budget of $200 million. As it turns out, Joker 2’s box office proved worthy of exploration, sporting negative comparisons to the first movie and difficult questions about Joker 3.


As alluded to, Joker 2 underperformed at the box office. At the time of writing, the film has not yet earned back its production budget. As a general rule of thumb, Hollywood movies are said to have to earn two-and-a-half times their production budget back to begin turning a profit, a reality which does not look feasible for Joker: Folie à Deux unless it proves to have longevity at the worldwide box office.


While these numbers do not look overly damning, the nature of Hollywood box office of late indicates that Joker 2 is shaping up to be a box office flop. For one, franchise movies are only growing larger in terms of budget, with Joker: Folie à Deux's $200 million reflecting this. Secondly, movies increasingly rely on opening weekend numbers to be deemed a success, with Joker 2 failing to turn a profit upon release. Finally, movies are facing progressively shorter windows in cinemas, with the gap between worldwide releases and home video growing ever shorter.



With opening weekend numbers being more important than ever to a big-budget movie's box office, it is worth exploring how Joker 2 fared in its first week of release. The film was released worldwide on October 4, 2024, yet failed to bring in the same success as its predecessor. In North America and Canada, the film was initially projected to earn at least $100 million in its opening weekend. However, as Joker 2's release date grew closer, projections dropped to $50-$70 million as questions over who the film was for were raised.


Joker: Folie à Deux somehow grossed lower these poor projections. As of its first weekend, Joker 2 had earned a domestic total of $40 million, vastly underperforming its original expectations. Overseas, Joker: Folie à Deux performed better, but not by a drastically increased margin. Joker 2's international opening weekend box office total came in at $81.1 million taking the film's worldwide opening box office to $121.1 million, significantly below the film's production budget.


Naturally, the box office returns of Joker: Folie à Deux are going to be compared to the first movie. After all, 2019's Joker was a certified box office hit, becoming the first R-rated movie in history to gross over $1 billion. At the end of its theatrical run, Joker had grossed a domestic total of $335 million. When combined with an international haul of $743 million, Joker's worldwide box office gross sat at $1.07 billion. When taking into account that Joker only cost $55 million to produce, its success was evident.


Unfortunately for the DC film, it is not only Joker 2's total box office that compares unfavorably to its predecessor, but its opening weekend too. Joker 2's $121 million worldwide opening box office is dwarfed by that of the first movie, which earned a worldwide opening weekend total of $247 million. $96 million of this total came in domestic territories, with the other $151 million being earned worldwide.


As evident, Joker: Folie à Deux failed to earn even half of Joker's opening weekend numbers upon its own debut. Of course, this will be a disappointment to Warner Bros., with the studio committing to a much bigger budget for the sequel. While it remains to be seen whether Joker 2 will have legs at the box office and overcome a poor opening weekend, it is difficult to see it matching up to its predecessor's record-breaking total.


Above all else, Joker 2's poor box office numbers mean the franchise is all but over. It is worth noting that the story of Joker: Folie à Deux does not leave much room for a sequel. Despite Joker 2's unanswered questions, the film ends with the death of Arthur Fleck, hinting that his time as the titular Crown Prince of Crime is over. That said, even if the creatives of Joker 2 wanted to create another story in this world, the film's lackluster performance at the box office may put a swift end to these desires.


In a business that is ever reliant on profits, it is hard to imagine Warner Bros. offering up the money to produce Joker 3's story given Joker: Folie à Deux's inability to recapture the first film's success. Beyond that, any spin-offs teased by Joker 2's ending are likely dead on arrival also. Not only has writer-director Todd Phillips insisted he is done with the franchise (via Variety) but the poor box office numbers of Joker: Folie à Deux mean that the possibility of other directors coming on board is just as unlikely.


After the ending of Joker 2, the most likely spin-offs could be centered around Lady Gaga's Harley Quinn or the many other Batman elements teased in the film and its predecessor. For example, 2019's Joker teased a young Bruce Wayne being affected by Arthur Fleck's actions, while Joker 2 directly foreshadows Harvey Dent's Two-Face. Despite the possibilities for several continuations of the franchise, Joker: Folie à Deux's box office likely means that, as Arthur came to realize in the movie, Joker is no more.

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