Just a week after Francis Ford Coppola’s passion project, Megalopolis, debuted with a rare D+ CinemaScore, another film is opening to an even more tragic audience response. Director Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux, a sequel to his blockbuster 2019 film Joker, is sending shockwaves through the industry with its spiraling box office numbers, fueled by what seems like a complete rejection by mainstream audiences. The film has earned a D CinemaScore from opening day crowds, which not only demolishes the lofty commercial projections for this weekend, but also spells doom for the costly film’s future.

By comparison, the first Joker film earned a solid B+ CinemaScore, and more surprisingly, won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Like its predecessor, Joker: Folie à Deux also debuted at Venice, but had a significantly more muted response. The film’s D CinemaScore puts it below even Megalopolis, which is arguably among the most divisive movies to have been released in recent years. By comparison, director Damien Chazelle’s Babylon, another epic blank check film, bombed on the back of a C+ CinemaScore. Only one other film in the post-pandemic era — The Exorcism, starring Russell Crowe — has earned a CinemaScore as poor as a D.

This puts Joker: Folie à Deux in the same league as American Psycho (2000), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), The Happening (2008), The Last Exorcism (2010), Movie 43 (2013), and The Snowman (2017). It’s also the worst-reviewed studio comic book film of all time, behind the famously unloved Batman & Robin, Morbius and Madame Web, each of which earned a C+. Even the widely maligned 2015 Fantastic Four reboot earned a C- CinemaScore, which is to say that Joker: Folie à Deux is in big trouble.

‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ Is Headed Towards a Disappointing Box Office Debut

Thanks to a generally positive response, and palpable tension around its incendiary themes, the first film was a runway success. Joker ended up grossing over $1 billion worldwide, and still ranks among the top-grossing R-rated films of all time. It did this against a reported budget of less than $70 million. By comparison, the sequel comes with a reported price tag of $190 million, which raises the stakes considerably. But because of these poor exit scores, the film’s opening weekend projections are tanking. As per current trends, the film is coming up short of the opening weekend hauls of even The Marvels and The Flash — two of the biggest comic book flops of recent times.

Joker: Folie à Deux’s critical rating has been in free fall as well. The movie currently sits at a “rotten” 33% approval rating on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. The audience score is identical. Starring Joaquin Phoenix as the iconic Batman villain, alongside Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, the movie unfolds mostly inside Arkham Asylum, as Arthur Fleck prepares to mount his defense after murdering half-a-dozen people in the first film and inspiring a rebel movement. Some would argue that the sequel’s musical sequences and open disdain for hardcore fans have left a sour taste in the audience’s mouth. You can watch Joker: Folie à Deux in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

via Collider