Movies

“You’re laughing. Joker 2 cost $190 million, and you’re laughing?” — Weekend box office report for October 4th-October 6th 2024

Ugh.

Ugh.

UGH!!!!

Comedy may be subjective, but Joker 2’s box office numbers certainly aren’t. What was looking at one point like one of the few surefire blockbusters in a year stretched thin by two different Hollywood strikes, the punchline is that it’s quickly turning into one of its biggest flops. This was supposed to be a potential $100 million opener. Instead, it…isn’t.

It was very apparent that Warner Bros. made an incredibly stupid decision when they chose to premiere the sequel at Venice a month ago. Yes, yes, the original Joker got a similar awards push, but that film was a character study disguised as a comic book flick. That’s a much easier sell than “it’s a musical now!” Studios need to realize that we live in a different era when it comes to the importance of Rotten Tomatoes ratings. And those bad reviews, which also focused on it having an “alienating” (ie, terrible) ending, sunk this clown ship before it set sail.

But here’s the big lesson that should be taken away from this: STOP LYING TO AUDIENCES WITH MARKETING! We’ve seen this happen over and over again where trailers promise viewers something they aren’t getting. If you’re giving people something as risky as a musical sequel to a film as grounded in reality as Joker, tell them (and I’m not saying that can’t work, but at the same time, can you imagine a song and dance follow-up to Taxi Driver?). Don’t try to trick them, because you might get a solid opening night, but that will be it before the word-of-mouth murders you. And I’m calling it now: Universal is in big trouble with Wicked by hiding that it’s a “part one.”

But we haven’t even addressed the biggest problem yet: budget. Somehow Joker 2 (I’m not bothering to call it by it’s actual title, but hey, at least I learned a little French this week) cost a reported $190 million! And some sources are saying it’s more in the $200 million range. Keep in mind, the original Joker cost $60 million. And then there’s that “D” CinemaScore. Somewhere out there, Batman is laughing his bat ass off.

Our other major newcomer, White Bird, made only $1 million. Another flop from Lionsgate. Too bad in this case, as they apparently made a really good movie here. Clearly the thematic material made this a tough sell, but it seems Lionsgate’s way of dealing with that was…simply not selling the film at all. Seriously, how many people even knew this was playing? Maybe audiences will discover it on streaming.

Anyway, the top ten, via Deadline

1.) Joker: Folie à Deux (WB) 4,102 theaters, Fri $20M, Sat $11.4M Sun $8M 3-day $39M-$40M/Wk 1

  1. The Wild Robot (DWA/Uni) 3,997 (+35) theaters, Fri $4.9M Sat $8.1M Sun $5.6M 3-day $18.7M (-48%), Total $63.9M/Wk 2
  2. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (WB) 3,576 (-228) theaters, Fri $2.7M (-36%) Sat $4.6M Sun $3M 3-day $10.3M (-36%) Total $265.5M/Wk 5
  3. Transformers One (Par) 3,106 (-864) theaters, Fri $1.37M Sat $2.4M Sun $1.57M 3-day $5.35M (-42%), Total $47.2M/Wk 3
  4. Speak No Evil (Uni) 2,279 (-392) theaters Fri $850K (-33%) Sat $1.22M Sun $730K 3-day $2.8M (-33%), Total $32.5M/Wk 4
  5. Sam and Colby: The Legends of Paranormal (XPLR Prods) 302 theaters, Fri $580K Sat $721K Sun $454K 3-day $1.75M, Total $2.1M/Wk 1
  6. White Bird (LG) 1,018 theaters, Fri $675K, Sat $510K Sun $345K 3-day $1.53M/Wk 1
  7. Deadpool & Wolverine (Dis) 1,605 (-370) theaters Fri $414K (-45%) Sat $700K Sun $412K 3-day $1.52M (-45%) Total $633.8M/Wk 11
  8. The Substance (Mubi) 686 (-1012) theaters, Fri $422K Sat $532K Sun $392K 3-day $1.346M (-34%), Total $9.7M/Wk 3
  9. Megalopolis (LG) 1,854 theaters, Fri $330K(-82%) Sat $427K Sun $293K 3-day $1.05M(-73%), Total $6.48M /Wk 2
  10. My Old Ass (AMZ/MGM) 1,205 (-185) theaters Fri $293K (-74%) Sat $362K Sun $253K 3-day $908K (-58%), Total $4.5M/Wk 4