"Joker: Folie à Deux" is the No. 1 movie <br>
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at the box office, but it might not be destined for a happy ending.<br>
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In a turn of events that only Arthur Fleck would find funny, the follow-up to Todd Phillips´ 2019 origin story about <br>
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the Batman villain opened in theaters nationwide <br>
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this weekend to a muted $40 million, according to studio <br>
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estimates Sunday, less than half that of its predecessor. The collapse was swift and has many in the industry wondering: How did the highly anticipated sequel to an Oscar-winning, billion-dollar film with the same creative team go wrong?<br>
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Just three weeks ago, tracking services pegged the movie for a $70 million debut,<br>
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which would still have been down a fair amount from "Joker´s" record-breaking $96.2 <br>
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million launch in Oct. 2019. Reviews were mixed out of the Venice Film Festival, where it <br>
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premiered in competition like the first movie and even got a 12-minute standing ovation.<br>
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But the homecoming glow was short-lived, and the fragile foundation would <br>
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crumble in the coming weeks with its Rotten Tomatoes score dropping from 63% at Venice to 33% by its first <br>
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weekend in theaters. Perhaps even more surprising were the audience reviews:<br>
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Ticket buyers polled on opening night gave the film <br>
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a 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 <br>
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senior media analyst for Comscore. "The biggest issue of all is the reported budget. A $40 or $50 million opening for a less expensive movie would be a solid debut."<br>
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"Joker: Folie à Deux" cost at least twice as much as the first <br>
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film to produce, though reported figures vary at exactly how pricey it was to make.<br>
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Phillips told Variety that it was less than the reported $200 million; Others have it pegged at $190 million. <br>
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Warner Bros. released the film in 4,102 locations in North America.<br>
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About 12.5% of its domestic total came from 415 IMAX screens.<br>
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This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Joaquin Phoenix, foreground center, and Brendan Gleeson, background center, in a scene from "Joker: Folie à Deux." (Niko Tavernise/Warner Bros.<br>
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Internationally, it's earned $81.1 million from 25,788 screens, bringing <br>
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its total global earnings estimate to $121.1 million. In the next two weeks, "Joker 2" will also open in Japan and China.<br>
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Second place went to Universal and DreamWorks Animation's"The Wild Robot," which added $18.7 million in its second weekend, bringing its domestic total to <br>
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nearly $64 million. Globally, it's made over $100 million. <br>
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Warner Bros.' "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" took <br>
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third place in weekend five, Paramount's "Transformers One" landed in fourth and Universal and Blumhouse's "Speak No Evil" rounded out the top <br>
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five.<br>
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The other big new release of the weekend, Lionsgate's "White Bird," flopped with just $1.5 million from just over 1,000 locations, despite an A+ CinemaScore.<br>
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Overall, the weekend is up from the same frame last year, but "Joker's" start is an unwelcome <br>
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twist for theater owners hoping to narrow the box office deficit.<br>
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Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix have said they aspired to make <br>
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something as "audacious" as the first film. The sequel added Lady <br>
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Gaga into the fold, as a Joker superfan, and delved further into the mind of Arthur Fleck,<br>
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imprisoned at Arkham and awaiting trial for <br>
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the murders he committed in the first. It´s also a musical,<br>
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with elaborately imagined song and dance numbers to old standards.<br>
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Gaga even released a companion album called "'Harlequin," alongside the film.<br>
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In his review for The Associated Press, Jake Coyle wrote that "Phillips has followed his very antihero take on the Joker with a very anti-sequel. It combines prison drama, courthouse thriller and musical, and yet turns out remarkably inert given how combustible the original was."<br>
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The sequel has already been the subject of many think <br>
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pieces, some who posit that the sequel was deliberately alienating fans <br>
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of the first movie. In cruder terms, it´s been called a "middle finger." But fans often ignore the advice of critics,<br>
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especially when it comes to opening their wallets to see revered <br>
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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. They want the tried and true, the familiar."<br>
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It has some high-profile defenders too: Francis Ford Coppola,<br>
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who last week got his own D+ CinemaScore for his pricey, ambitious and divisive film "Megalopolis," entered the Joker chat with an Instagram post.<br>
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"@ToddPhillips films always amaze me and I enjoy them thoroughly," <br>
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Coppola wrote. "Ever since the wonderful `The Hangover´ he´s always one step ahead of the audience never doing what they expect."<br>
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"Megalopolis," meanwhile, dropped a terminal 74% in its second weekend with just over $1 million, bringing its total just shy of <br>
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$6.5 million against a $120 million budget.<br>
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Deadline editor Anthony D´Alessandro thinks the problem <br>
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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 sequel," he <br>
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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 <br>
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message to the wrong type of person. And yet people still flocked to see what the fuss was about.<br>
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"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 of all time, until this <br>
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summer when Marvel's "Deadpool & Wolverine" took the crown.<br>
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Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S.<br>
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and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.<br>
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<b>1. "Joker: Folie à Deux," $40 million.</b><br>
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<u><strong>2. "The Wild Robot," $18.7 million.</strong></u><br>
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<b>3. "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," $10.3 million.</b><br>
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<i><u>4. "Transformers One," $5.4 million.</u></i><br>
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<u><i>5. "Speak No Evil," $2.8 million.</i></u><br>
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<strong>6. "Sam and Colby: The Legends of Paranormal," $1.8 million.</strong><br>
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<b>7. "White Bird," $1.5 million.</b><br>
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<strong>8. "Deadpool & Wolverine," $1.5 million.</strong><br>
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<strong><u>9. "The Substance," $1.3 million.</u></strong><br>
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<b><u>10. "Megalopolis," $1.1 million.</u></b><br>
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This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows <br>
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Joaquin Phoenix, left, and Lady Gaga in a scene from "Joker: Folie à Deux." (Niko Tavernise/Warner Bros.<br>
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Pictures via AP)<br>
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This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures <br>
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shows Joaquin Phoenix, left, and Lady Gaga in a <br>
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scene from "Joker: Folie à Deux." (Niko Tavernise/Warner Bros.<br>
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Pictures via AP)<br>
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This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows promotional art for "Joker: Folie à Deux." (Warner Bros.<br>
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Pictures via AP)<br>
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Joaquin Phoenix, left, and Lady Gaga pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere for the film 'Joker: Folie A <br>
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Deux' on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)<br>
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Director Todd Phillips, center, and actors Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix pose for photographers <br>
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upon arrival at the photo call for the film 'Joker:<br>
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Folie a Deux' in London, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)<br>
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Lady Gaga arrives at the premiere of "Joker: Folie a Deux" on Monday, Sept.<br>
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30, 2024, at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)<br>
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Todd Phillips arrives at the premiere of "Joker: Folie a Deux" on Monday,<br>
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Sept. 30, 2024, at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los <br>
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Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)<br>
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Joaquin Phoenix arrives at the premiere of "Joker: Folie a Deux" on Monday, Sept.<br>
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30, 2024, at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.<br>
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(Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)<br>
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"Joker: Folie à Deux" is the