It shouldn’t come as no surprise that “Joker: Folie à Deux” has been getting even worse reviews than during its initial Venice bow. Some folks were clinging to the hope that the film would be met with better reception post-Venice, but that hasn’t materialized. It now stands at 42% on Rotten Tomatoes.
This toxic word of mouth, that ‘Folie à Deux’ is a dreadful movie, is spreading fast, and it’s now becoming quite clear that the entire thing was a misbegotten project from the start. To make an R-rated musical sequel to 2019’s “Joker” seemed ambitious enough, but the execution has turned out to be very clunky.
The latest box-office tracking isn’t getting any better for ‘Folie à Deux,’ which is now eyeing a $50M opening weekend. It was reported earlier in the week that the film actually has a $190M budget, not the rumored $200M that was previously mentioned. Still, this means that, by using the 2.5X rule, ‘Folie à Deux’ would need to make around $475M worldwide to break even.
Meanwhile, director Todd Phillips is starting to slowly distance himself from his creation. Yesterday, at the Hollywood premiere, Phillips confirmed that his “time in the DC universe” was done, and that he’s moving on to other projects which might include a comedy with his ‘Joker’ star Joaquin Phoenix.