“'D' Means Disaster – Audiences Harass 'Joker 2' Outside Box Office”

The audience heckles Joker: Folie À Deux from the box office this weekend, with (literally) around $45 million domestically and a disastrous A rating in the Cinemascore audience poll. The film's reputation continues to decline on Rotten Tomatoes, now sitting at 32% Rotten among critics and audiences.

As I said before, if international markets don't come to the rescue and China doesn't deliver big numbers, there is a risk of a total box office collapse. But even if foreign revenue manages to double domestic numbers, that's still a problem Joker: Folie À Deux With an opening weekend of $135 million, a decent 3x final multiplier, it's still just over the $400 million global mark at the end of its run.

The problem with this calculation is that a triple final multiplier is unlikely based on the audience's “D” grade.

For comparison: Black Adam Debuts for $67 million with a B+ grade, while The lightning opened for $55 million with a grade of B and Shazam! Rage of the gods also opened for $30 million at a B+. Over at Marvel Studios, The miracles It opened at $46 million and received a B grade from viewers.

Forbes“'Joker: Folie À Deux' opening weekend could be 2024.”From Mark Hughes

How did they turn out? Black Adam topped them all with $393 million worldwide at the end of its run. The lightning took second place with $271 million, followed by The miracles with $206 million. Last place is Shazam! Rage of the gods with $134 million.

Hoping that international audiences will double domestic viewership just to get to $400 million shows how dire the situation likely is. Because if instead of a 3x final multiplier and foreign tickets doubling the domestic, we end up seeing a 2.7x multiplier, then the result is around $365 million. And at 2.5x it will make $338 million.

Joker: Folie À DeuxWith a budget of almost $200 million plus marketing costs, the breakeven point is over $500 million, and I don't see a way to reach that number unless something completely unexpected and big happens in the next 24 hours changes.

So if the expectations continue through the rest of the weekend, we'll just wait and see what happens from here on out much of a loss that it takes.

Forbes“Deadpool & Wolverine” tops $1.3 billion as second-biggest film of 2024From Mark Hughes

Now let's be realistic about some of these calculations – the pain of the future will be borne to varying degrees by Warner, DC Studios, Domain Entertainment and Joint Effort. And total merchandising sales with much higher margins, not to mention pre-sales and other ancillary revenue streams, will likely cover the rest of the range in the long run.

There is also still a chance Joker: Folie À Deux is getting awards season attention and a few Oscar nominations – at least the great performances and production design could get some recognition. In that case, we could expect a boost in post-theatrical revenue (perhaps even a Christmas double release with the original). jokerIf nothing else catches fire in the final weeks of the year and heads into a light phase in early 2025).

The point is that despite the harsh financial reality you hear about, this is the case Joker: Folie À Deux In the entertainment press this weekend, including yours, the truth is also that this film comes from a previous regime, an investment in the vision of filmmaker Todd Phillips because he pumped billions of dollars into the studio coffers and the film series too end went. Often a swing and a miss is worth it just to keep that person on the team and keep them going.

Forbes'Deadpool & Wolverine' Beats 'Joker' as Best R-Rated Movie of All Time (Updated)From Mark Hughes

In addition, the losses are not too difficult for the new leadership of WBD and DC Studios to bear, not only because they are letting a previous project continue with artistic control in the hands of the artists, but also because they are cutting ties previous DC versions as a prelude to next year's rebooted DCU in the form of Superman.

Whether negative publicity and audience disinterest in another DC film project (even a sequel to a multi-billion dollar film project) is a bad sign for DC Studios when it comes to audiences' willingness to give it another chance soon, or whether it's just It remains to be seen whether the presence and impact of these earlier versions of DC cinema will be toned down ahead of an inevitable marketing onslaught to rebrand the DCU next year.

Regardless, there are lessons in Joker: Folie À Deux's financial misfortunes.

First of all, budgets – yes, even for these big, filmmaker-driven, ambitious projects – need to get back under some semblance of control. There is no need to skimp or underpay anyone to create great, visionary projects at a relatively reasonable cost.

Forbes“Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Joker,” and a history of R-rated superhero moviesFrom Mark Hughes

2017s The greatest showman is a perfect example of a big, lavish, star-studded, full-blown musical extravaganza that was held at a very reasonable – but still high enough to deliver the goods – $85 million and grossed $462 million. Even this year's upcoming big-budget, star-filled visual effects musical extravaganza Evil is budgeted at a more reasonable $145 million.

In addition to the budget, Joker: Folie À Deux could have benefited from marketing itself as a musical and giving the musical elements a far more dominant and resonant position in the film, not to mention adding more humor to the mix.

And the title probably didn't help matters if something like that happens Joker: Crazy Love For the average audience, who largely passively perceive films and titles, it might have been easier to notice, which would have increased the value of a memorable and memorable film.

Crazy love is the title of a comic written by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, which was later adapted into an episode of the animated series The New Adventures of Batman. (It's also the film title I suggested in articles after 2016 Suicide Squadwhen we heard about a Joker and Harley spinoff, and I even said a musical would be a fun way to approach it. Fans in particular recognize it, so it has a built-in appeal and a certain nostalgia factor that you can use.

ForbesNew “Superman” set photos spark fierce fan reactionsFrom Mark Hughes

I can't help but wonder if this more mainstream-appealing title and the highlighting of the big musical numbers in the trailers might have at least generated more public interest in the film, particularly during its opening weekend.

But at the end of the day, if the audience doesn't like the film, such speculation or the shoulda-oughts don't matter. And unfortunately, they clearly don't like it Joker: Folie À Deux.

I don't see much hope that the mood will be significantly different elsewhere in the world, so it looks like another contender in 2024, where even the biggest popular blockbusters have made history – Inside Out 2 as the most successful animated film in history, Deadpool and Wolverine becoming the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time – ultimately only helped shore up a weak year.