Joker: Folie à Deux, a sequel to Joker that pairs Joaquin Phoenix’s titular Batman character with a Harley Quinn played by Lady Gaga, will not be making anywhere as much money as the original film did, according to several reports from entertainment outlets that show how the Joker sequel has premiered to only $40 million—less than half of the $96 million that Joker saw when it released in October 2019. The premiere of the film came a few days after Todd Phillips, who returned to write and direct the sequel, said that he is retreating from the DC Universe. A featurette for Joker: Folie à Deux can be found below.
Friday was $20M (which includes previews) and Saturday dropped -45% to $11.4M as if Batman himself was throwing Joker off a building; not the -20% decline many were seeing, even outside Warners. Everyone was so serious about this movie being frontloaded, and indeed it was. If there was ever a sign about the nervousness with this movie ahead of opening, it was in its stars Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga doing a very limited amount of press on the red carpet at the LA premiere. Not to mention, they arrived at the afterparty at the Sunset Tower last Monday, and got the hell out of there.