“This isn’t a box office marketplace problem, this is a creative development problem,” declared one movie marketing vet this weekend over Warner Bros‘ bold swing with a foul Joker: Folie à Deux, which at a production cost of $190M+ net is coming in way, way, way below forecasts at $39M, steeper than the $47M which was spotted by the town yesterday. Warner is reporting $40M this morning, others see it lower. Amazingly, the studio’s overseas $80M+ projection held up with what’s coming in at a $81.1M opening; total worldwide at $121.1M, not $140M+.
If anyone was betting on Joker: Folie à Deux as being a winning tentpole in their fantasy box office league a year out, well, sorry, you just lost a ton of cash. This sequel based on a DC Comics character is one of the lowest sequel openings in memory to a major franchise film based on a comic-book. It’s certainly lower than the start of Marvel Studios’ bomb last fall, The Marvels, and that was $46.1M. More people saw Marvels at 3.3M admissions in its opening weekend one versus Joker 2‘s 2.5M per EntTelligence.
Read more at Deadline.
