Amid tepid returns at the box office for Joker: Folie à Deux, a number of fans of the <br>
<br>
sequel took to social media over the weekend in defense of the sequel to Todd Phillips' 2019 motion picture.<br>
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The film, which sees Joaquin Phoenix return to the lead role of The Joker/Arthur Fleck, <br>
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debuted to a paltry $40 million at the domestic box office, good enough for <br>
<br>
the weekend's top spot, but less than projections, and half that of its <br>
<br>
predecessor.<br>
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Amid the early returns, a number of fans took up <br>
<br>
for the movie and its cinematic depth, in breaking away from <br>
<br>
the cookie cutter nature of sequels to introduce a musical element not present <br>
<br>
in the first film, with Lady Gaga joining the franchise.<br>
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'Joker 2 was amazing,' one user said, adding that it was '100% as divisive <br>
<br>
as people are making it out to be. I love that the film didn't <br>
<br>
try to be a traditional sequel, and fully committed to the storytelling they presented.<br>
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It never deviated to be a film full of Easter eggs or any other <br>
<br>
crowd pleasing aspects.'<br>
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Another user said, 'I kinda loved Joker 2. I loved how it was structured as <br>
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a meta-exploration of the first film's fandom and the <br>
<br>
musical elements were a lot of fun.'<br>
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Amid tepid returns at the box office for Joker: Folie à <br>
<br>
Deux, a number of fans of the sequel took to social media over the weekend in defense of the <br>
<br>
sequel to Todd Phillips' 2019 motion picture, starring Joaquin Phoenix<br>
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One user marveled that Joker 2 is 'getting universal hate despite being more interesting and creative than anything marvel <br>
<br>
has done in years is expected.'<br>
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A user said that 'Joker 2 is genuinely such a clever movie which carries <br>
<br>
the character study format of the first movie into the second in a way which, surprisingly, will floor you by the end.<br>
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I'm astounded reception is this bad because this is SUCH a clever movie'<br>
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Read More<br>
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Lady Gaga reflects on the ups and downs of her career...<br>
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as Joker flops at box office<br>
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Some users said that the bad word-of-mouth the film was suffering from was impacting the opinions of <br>
<br>
moviegoers.<br>
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'The Joker 2 hate is so forced like did we watched the same movie????????' one user said, while another said the hate for the film is 'so unjustified.'<br>
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One fan predicted that the motion picture with stand the test <br>
<br>
of time with audiences.<br>
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'I may be one of ten people who genuinely liked the Joker 2.<br>
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Remember me when society circles back to it in 10 years and says its a masterpiece,<br>
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' said the user. 'The world just wasn't ready for it yet.'<br>
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Said one user: 'I actually thoroughly enjoyed it. If you don't <br>
<br>
like musicals or 'art house' style films you probably won't like it because it's not made for you.<br>
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The dynamic between Harley and Joker was brilliant and showcased the 'obsession' that is key to <br>
<br>
that duo.' <br>
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The movie's box office collapse was swift and has many in the industry <br>
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wondering: How did the highly anticipated sequel to an Oscar-winning, billion-dollar film with <br>
<br>
the same creative team go wrong? Just three weeks ago, tracking services pegged <br>
<br>
the movie for a $70 million debut, which would still have been down a fair amount from Joker's <br>
<br>
record-breaking $96.2 million launch in October 2019. <br>
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A number of fans took to social media to defend the controversial sequel<br>
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Amid the early returns, a number of fans took up for the movie and its cinematic depth, <br>
<br>
in breaking away from the cookie cutter nature of sequels to introduce a <br>
<br>
musical element not present in the first film, with Lady Gaga joining the franchise <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Reviews were mixed out of the Venice Film Festival, where it premiered in competition like the first movie and even got a <br>
<br>
12-minute standing ovation.<br>
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But the homecoming glow was short-lived, and the fragile <br>
<br>
foundation would crumble in the coming weeks with its Rotten Tomatoes score dropping from 63 percent at <br>
<br>
Venice to 33 percent by its first weekend in theaters. Perhaps <br>
<br>
even more surprising were the audience reviews:<br>
<br>
Ticket buyers polled on opening night gave the film a <br>
<br>
deadly D CinemaScore. Exit polls from PostTrak weren't any better.<br>
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It got a meager half star out of five possible.<br>
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'That´s a double whammy that´s very difficult to recover from,' said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore.<br>
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'The biggest issue of all is the reported budget.<br>
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A $40 or $50 million opening for a less expensive movie would <br>
<br>
be a solid debut.'<br>
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Joker: Folie à Deux cost at least twice as much as <br>
<br>
the first film to produce, though reported figures vary at exactly how pricey it was <br>
<br>
to make. Phillips told Variety that it was less than the reported $200 <br>
<br>
million; Others have it pegged at $190 million. Warner Bros.<br>
<br>
released the film in 4,102 locations in North America.<br>
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About 12.5 percent of its domestic total came from 415 IMAX screens.<br>
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Internationally, it's earned $81.1 million from 25,788 screens, bringing its total global earnings estimate to $121.1 million. In the next two weeks, Joker 2 <br>
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will also open in Japan and China.<br>
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Second place went to Universal and DreamWorks Animation's The <br>
<br>
Wild Robot, which added $18.7 million in its second weekend, bringing its domestic total to nearly <br>
<br>
$64 million. Globally, it's made over $100 million. Warner <br>
<br>
Bros.' Beetlejuice Beetlejuice took third place in weekend <br>
<br>
five, Paramount's Transformers One landed in fourth and Universal and Blumhouse's Speak No Evil <br>
<br>
rounded out the top five.<br>
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The other big new release of the weekend, Lionsgate's White Bird, <br>
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flopped with just $1.5 million from just over 1,000 locations, despite an A+ <br>
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CinemaScore.<br>
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Overall, the weekend is up from the same frame last year,<br>
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but Joker's start is an unwelcome twist for theater owners hoping to narrow the box office deficit.<br>
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The sequel has already been the subject of many think pieces, some who posit that it <br>
<br>
was deliberately alienating fans of the first movie<br>
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Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix have said they aspired <br>
<br>
to make something as 'audacious' as the first film.<br>
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The sequel added Lady Gaga into the fold , as a Joker superfan, and delved further <br>
<br>
into the mind of Arthur Fleck, imprisoned at Arkham and awaiting trial for the murders he committed in the first.<br>
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It´s also a musical, with elaborately imagined song <br>
<br>
and dance numbers to old standards. Gaga even released a companion album <br>
<br>
called ''Harlequin,' alongside the film.<br>
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The sequel has already been the subject of many think pieces, some who posit that it was deliberately alienating fans of the first <br>
<br>
movie. In cruder terms, it´s been called a 'middle finger.' <br>
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But fans often ignore the advice of critics, especially when it comes to opening their wallets to see <br>
<br>
revered comic book characters on the big screen.<br>
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'They took a swing for the fences,' Dergarabedian said.<br>
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'But except for a couple of outliers, audiences in 2024 seem to want to know what they´re getting when they´re going to the theater.<br>
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They want the tried and true, the familiar.' <br>
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Deadline editor Anthony D´Alessandro thinks the problem <br>
<br>
started with the idea to make the Joker sequel a musical.<br>
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'No fan of the original movie wanted to see a musical <br>
<br>
sequel,' he wrote on Saturday.<br>
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The first film was also divisive and the subject of much discourse, then about whether it might send the wrong message to the wrong type of person. And yet people still flocked to see what the <br>
<br>
fuss was about. Joker went on to pick up 11 Oscar nominations, including best picture and best director, and three wins.<br>
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It also made over $1 billion and was the highest-grossing R-rated film <br>
<br>
of all time, until this summer when Marvel's Deadpool & <br>
<br>
Wolverine took the crown.<br>
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Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S.<br>
<br>
and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday. <br>
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Joaquin PhoenixLady Gaga<br>
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Amid tepid returns at the box