UPDATED, with Joker: Folie à Deux actuals: The opening of Warner Bros and Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux has come in lower at the global and international box office than was estimated on Sunday. Whereas Sunday’s offshore estimate was within the pre-weekend projected range at $81.1M from 76 markets, the actuals now put the overseas tally at $77M through Sunday. Combined with domestic, which, as Anthony has noted, dipped to $37.8M, that brings the worldwide start to $114.8M, versus the $121.1M reported on Sunday.
Among shifts at the international box office, some were seen across the Top 5 markets, which each skewed slightly lower than estimated. Actuals now point to the Top 5 through Sunday as UK ($7.6M), Germany ($5.7M), Italy ($5.4M), Mexico ($5.3M) and France ($4.8M). Joker 2 remains the No. 1 title in each for the session.
See previous update below for more on the weekend.
PREVIOUS, SUNDAY: Warner Bros/DC’s and Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux clearly did not cause the hoped for frenzy at turnstiles in its opening this session.
While the Joaquin Phoenix/Lady Gaga-starrer came in with $81.1M in 76 markets at the international box office, which was within projections for this first wave, domestic cratered. In both cases, most critical and social scores are seriously bad. The global debut was $121.1M. Japan and China are still to launch, but no one is expecting a big multiple. (On a brighter note for WB, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice crossed $400M worldwide this frame – see below.)
Phillips’ 2019 Joker opened to $139M offshore in like-for-like markets, coming off the heat of its Venice Golden Lion win. With the sequel, the face paint was already somewhat on the wall after its own Venice world premiere last month resulted in low critical scores and social reaction. Note that the first Joker started off with middling reaction from critics, but went on to become an Oscar-winning $1B+ global box office phenomenon. This film will sadly not emulate that. It’s been suggested that had Folie à Deux not gone to Venice, and just opened on its own, it could have seen a bigger turnout in its debut.
Rivals tell us that while Phillips’ and WB’s gambit this time around was a bold swing, any creative misjudgment doesn’t mean the sky is falling on the industry. People are still psyched to go to the movies; the fanbase for this one just felt let down (there’s certainly a lot of vitriol out there). Here’s Anthony’s analysis on the domestic situation.
RELATED: ‘Joker: Folie À Deux’ Review: Joaquin Phoenix And Lady Gaga In Todd Phillips’ Brilliant Musical Return To A World Of Madness – Venice Film Festival
Word of mouth definitely hurt Folie à Deux overseas (for example, France’s Allo Ciné has it at a 2.8 from critics and 2.4 from audiences versus the first movie’s 4.1 critical score and 4.4 audience note). Notably, the first movie’s lead overseas opening market was Korea (France and Germany not in the mix that time around), which was a surprise at the time given it wasn’t clear how the darker elements of the film would play there. This time, WB looked to capitalize on a holiday opening for Folie à Deux, and it launched at No. 1 in Korea last Tuesday, but grossed just $3.7M across a six-day frame that in fact included two holidays. It has a 5.8 Naver score with audiences whereas the first movie was closer to a 9.
All in, Folie à Deux‘s Top 5 launch markets, all at No. 1, are the UK ($8M), Germany ($6.9M), Italy ($5.6M), Mexico ($5.5M) and France ($5M).
In the UK, specifically, it came in roughly on par with Venom 2 and ahead of Dune (+4%) and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (+90%).
Germany edged strong local title The School of Magical Animals for the 2nd best WB opening in the last 12 months. Including previews, opening weekend results were ahead of The Batman (+28%).
Italy, which typically leans into movies that have recently premiered on the Lido, gave Joker 2 a dominant 73% share of the Top 5 films, and the best opening for a WB film of 2024.
In Mexico, the start was good for 50% of the Top 5 in the market and tracked ahead of the recent Planet of the Apes movie by 13% as well as WB’s Dune: Part Two by 84%. By way of an R-rated comp, it was 56% ahead of Oppenheimer’s start.
France came in roughly on par with WB’s It Chapter Two and 13% ahead of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
The Imax global take was $10M, including $5M from overseas.
After this weekend, on deck are Japan on October 11 and China on October 16. As we’ve noted, the first Joker did not release in China.
In other news, Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s well-received The Wild Robot has topped $100M globally after a weekend that included $13M from 36 overseas markets. The international drop was a mere 12%. The offshore running total is $36.5M for $100.4M worldwide.
In staggered international release, it added six markets including Germany and Korea.
Germany debuted to $2.2M (including previews) in 3rd place behind School of Magical Animals and Joker 2. The film had the best day-on-day increase through the weekend. The opening is above Migration, Puss in Boots 2 and The Bad Guys.
Korea had a good start with $1.7M from over 1,000 screens, battling for the No.3 spot with local title Love in the Big City. The opening followed great national holiday results for Tuesday’s previews ($371K) and Thursday’s standard opening day ($441K). The CGV Egg rating is a wild 99%.
The weekend result excluding previews is above Transformers One and Migration, and in line with Trolls. Strong play-out is expected.
Also new was Hong Kong with $500K from 59 screens, including previews on Tuesday’s national holiday. Reactions and WOM are strong.
Mexico dipped just 22% in the sophomore session and has already surpassed the total lifetimes of Bad Guys, Lego Movie, Angry Birds and Encanto after 11 days in release. It will overtake the lifetimes of both Migration and Trolls by the end of the third weekend.
Mexico currently leads overseas play at $7.8M, followed by Australia ($7.6M), China ($6.5M), Central America ($1.1M) and Chile ($1M).
Still to come are France, Brazil, Italy and Spain next week as well as the UK on October 18 and Japan in February next year.
In better news for WB, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice conjured another $8.2M in 77 markets. Conversely to Joker: Folie à Deux, this movie also played Venice this year, out of competition, and certainly gained traction from the Lido. The holdover drop was 42% for a $137.1M international cume to date. Worldwide has passed $400M, now at $402.6m through Sunday.
Top 5 here is the UK ($30M), Mexico ($18.4M), France ($13.1M), Australia ($9M) and Spain ($8.4M).
Paramount/Hasbro’s Transformers One picked up another $7.9M from 61 markets to bring the international running cume to $49.8M. The offshore holdover drop was 36%. Globally, the origins story is nearing $100M with $97M through Sunday.
China leads play at $18M, having faced strong competition from local Golden Week titles entering the market. Australia has grossed $4.4M, Mexico $3M, Korea $2.2M and Japan $2M.
The UK and Germany release next week, followed by France on October 23.
Meanwhile, speaking of Golden Week, China saw a slew of new local titles in play. Chen Kaige’s war epic The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death, which released on Monday, September 30, has grossed over $112M through Sunday and is projected to final in the $200M neighborhood. This is the second installment of Chen’s Volunteers trilogy. Behind it Lu Chuan’s sci-fi Bureau 749 grossed about $50M from October 1 through today, according to Maoyan; and crime drama Tiger Wolf Rabbit is at an estimated $48M through today. The Imax total for Golden Week movies is $8.3M.
MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE
Speak No Evil (UNI): $3.1M intl weekend (77 markets); $34.8M intl cume/$67.4M global
Despicable Me 4 (UNI): $2.9M intl weekend (84 markets); $597.2M intl cume/$958.1M global
It Ends with Us (SNY): $1.8M intl weekend (60 markets); $196.3M intl cume/$344.6M global