Warner Bros. and DC Studios’ JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX opened with a disappointing $40.0M box office in its first three days. All films together this weekend sold $90.0M in movie tickets, an improvement from the $72.9M sold last year on the 40th weekend of 2023, led by $26.5M for the opening of Universal’s THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER. This increase of 23% compared with last year continues the comparative rise of 2024 that began one month ago with the opening of BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE.
JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX is a direct sequel to Warner Bros.’ very successful JOKER, which opened five years ago in October 2019. The French language title translates in English to “Joker: Madness of Two” and the movie is living up to its moniker. Both films were directed by Todd Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix in the title role. THE JOKER won the Golden Lion at the 2019 Venice International Film Festival where it premiered, and Phoenix won the Best Actor Oscar that year for his dynamic portrayal of the tortured misfit Arthur Fleck.
This time, Lady Gaga joins in as Joker’s love interest Harleen “Lee” Quinzel, adding her voice to the many musical numbers throughout the film. The film opens with Arthur Fleck institutionalized at the Arkham State Hospital while he awaits trial for the crimes he committed as a Joker. While struggling to understand his split personality, Arthur meets Lee, his true love, and discovers the music that has always been inside him.
The musical focus in JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX was inspired by the “dancing on the steps” sequence from JOKER, set to the soundtrack of Gary Glitter’s “Rock & Roll, Part 2”. Some critics felt that the impact of this scene sealed the Academy Award vote for Phoenix and contributed greatly to the overall success of the film. That scene was shot on the West 167th Street step stairs which leads to the New York Subway’s number 4 train in the city’s Bronx neighborhood. The scene became so iconic that the location was brought back in the sequel. Here is how the two films stack up against each other.
JOKER (2019) VS. JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX (2024)
- JOKER (10/4/2019) – Opening Domestic $96.2M, Total Domestic $335.5M, Total Worldwide $1.078B, Budget 55M, RT Critics/Audience 68%/89%
- JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX (10/4/2024) – Opening Domestic $40.0M, Budget $190M, RT Critics/Audience 33%/30%
JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX’s $40.0M opening weekend was only 42% that of JOKER’s, a yawning gap between the two films. The original grossed more than $1B worldwide on a tiny budget of $55M, a nearly 20×1 ratio of worldwide box office to production cost. The production budget for the sequel was almost 4x higher than that of the original, which adds insult to the much lower opening weekend box office.
One factor working against the sequel is an abysmal response from both critics and audiences, with Rotten Tomatoes scores of 33% and 30% respectively. These are significantly below ratings for the original, which earned a respectable 68% from critics and a strong 89% from audiences. Just to underline that fact, the audience score for JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX was 59 points lower than it was for JOKER. The sequel’s move towards musical has not gone over well, and will surely be seen as a miscalculation.
Universal and DreamWorks’ THE WILD ROBOT finished in second place by earning $18.7M, a drop of 48% from last weekend’s #1 tally. Its 10-day total stands at $64.0M domestic and $87.4M worldwide, putting it on a similar track to last year’s TROLLS BAND TOGETHER, also from DreamWorks. TROLLS’ comparative advantage to THE WILD ROBOT is that its second weekend came on the holiday weekend after Thanksgiving, with the effect of boosting ticket sales.
THE WILD ROBOT (2024) VS. TROLLS BAND TOGETHER (2023)
- TROLLS BAND TOGETHER (11/17/23) – Opening Domestic $30.0M, 10-Day Domestic $64.8M, Total Domestic $103.0M, Total Worldwide $209.4M, Budget $95M, RT Critics/Audience 63%/92%
- THE WILD ROBOT (9/27/24) – Opening Domestic $35.0M, 10-Day Domestic $64.0M, Budget $78M, RT Critics/Audience 98%/98%
TROLLS BAND TOGETHER started slightly below THE WILD ROBOT but pulled ahead after 10 days due to strong sales over the Thanksgiving weekend. However, we expect THE WILD ROBOT to do well over the weeks ahead, after only a modest drop of 48% in its second weekend and with a lack of any significant competition for the animated family audience until MOANA 2 opens on November 27th. It will be profitable once it earns $200M in worldwide box office, which would also give it similar results to the $209.4M earned last year by TROLLS BAND TOGETHER.
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE finished in third place, with an additional $10.3M this weekend, a drop of 36%. After 31 days, Warner Bros.’s comedy horror sequel has grossed an impressive $265.5M domestic and $392.8M worldwide. On Monday, it passed BATMAN’s domestic box office total to become Tim Burton’s second highest-grossing movie of all time.
TIM BURTON’S TOP THREE BOX OFFICE PERFORMERS AS OF 10/6/2024
- ALICE IN WONDERLAND (3/5/2010) – Opening Domestic $116.1M, Total Domestic $334.2M, Total Worldwide $1.025B, Budget $200M, RT Critics/Audience 51%/55%
- BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE (9/6/2024) – Opening Domestic $110.0M, Total Domestic $265.5M **, Total Worldwide $392.8M **, Budget $100M, RT Critics/Audience 77%/80%
- BATMAN (6/23/1989) – Opening Domestic $40.5M, Total Domestic $251.4M, Total Worldwide $411.6M, Budget $35M, RT Critics/Audience 77%/84%
** Totals after 31 days
Within the next two weeks, BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE will pass BATMAN’s $411.6M global total to become the second highest-earning Burton movie in both domestic and worldwide sales. Of course, this is not a fair comparison given the impact of inflation over the past 35 years. After making proper adjustments, BATMAN’s 1989 grosses would equal $638.2M domestic and over $1B worldwide in current dollars.
TRANSFORMERS ONE finished in fourth place with $5.4M, a decline of 43% from last weekend. After 17 days, the animated sequel from Hasbro and Paramount has grossed $47.2M domestically and $88.2M worldwide. We expect it will wind up with approximately $65.0M domestic and $121.5M worldwide, short of the total necessary to be profitable for its creators after $75M was spent on its production.
Universal and Blumhouse’s scary SPEAK NO EVIL finished in fifth place with a weekend total of $2.8M, a decline of 34%. After 24 days, it has earned $32.6M domestically and $64.1M worldwide. This is somewhat higher than expected, nudging it slightly ahead of NIGHT SWIM’s $32.4M to claim fifth place in the domestic box office for all horror movies released in 2024.
Where Are We as of 10/3/2024
After 39 weeks, the 2024 year-to-date box office has climbed to 87% of 2023 totals and 74% of 2019 totals at this same point in the year.