GOTHAM CITY FLOP

‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ Bombs at the Box Office on Opening Weekend

The new film starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga made only $40 million at the domestic box office—less than half of the first installment’s total.

Joker: Folie à Deux, the highly anticipated sequel to Todd Philips’ 2019 hit, bombed its opening weekend after only grossing an estimated $40 million at the box office. The new film featuring the iconic Batman villain was panned by critics and clearly skipped by many fans—earning less than half of the total raked in by Joker during its opening weekend in 2019. The new film, which stars Joaquin Phoenix reprising his role as the titular villain and Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, still topped the weekend charts after its Oct. 4 release—beating out holdovers including The Wild Robot and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but still bringing in considerably less than its $50-$60 million projections, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It’s a significant blow for the comic book/musical/courtroom drama, which saw its budget balloon to $200 million. However, the film’s opening weekend was a bit more successful overseas—earning the film another $81 million internationally. The original Joker, which was produced on a much smaller $55 million budget, earned an estimated $96 million in its opening weekend.