Despite a star-studded premiere for Joker: Folie à Deux, including Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix, tensions brewed behind the scenes, particularly between director Todd Phillips and DC Studios. Insiders report that Phillips distanced himself from the DC brand, bypassing involvement from DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran during the film’s production. A clear signal of this rift was seen in the film’s opening moments—there was no DC Studios logo, which industry observers noted as Phillips subtly giving the company the cold shoulder.
The film, which was shot at a staggering $200 million budget and nearly $100 million in marketing costs, significantly underperformed, opening to just $37.7 million at the domestic box office. This disappointing performance starkly contrasts with Phillips’ 2019 Joker, a financial juggernaut that grossed $1.1 billion on a $60 million budget. The absence of the DC logo and a disregard for the franchise’s fanbase has been labeled by some as a direct affront to the comic book fans who propelled the first film to success. A review from Rolling Stone summed up the sentiment: “Joker: Folie à Deux has a message for fans: Go F-ck Yourselves.”
While Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and the lead actors attended the premiere’s after-party, notable absences were Gunn and Safran. Officially, their absence was attributed to scheduling conflicts—Gunn was directing Peacemaker in Atlanta, and Safran was reportedly ill—but insiders say it speaks to the deeper dysfunction between Phillips and DC Studios.
The biggest question now is why Warner Bros. invested heavily in a film that ignored the core DC fanbase. Not only did the sequel fail to capitalize on its billion-dollar predecessor, but sources say Phillips’ control over the production—including a refusal to test-screen the film—exacerbated the disconnect between the filmmaker and the studio. Critics panned the movie, with a disastrous 33% Rotten Tomatoes score, and a rare “D” grade on CinemaScore—comparable to some of the most panned films in recent memory.
Despite early warnings and attempts to manage costs, Warner Bros. went along with Phillips’ insistence on filming in Los Angeles, significantly inflating the budget. With the sequel unlikely to break even (it needed at least $450 million to do so), Warner Bros. finds itself nursing a financial and reputational blow.
Box office analyst Jeff Bock summarized the film’s failure bluntly, calling it a “Speed 2-level disaster,” a reference to another costly sequel that bombed.
The underwhelming reception of Joker: Folie à Deux is a stark contrast to Warner Bros.’ other major hit of the fall, Beetlejuice 2, and adds to the mounting concerns around the studio’s recent financial struggles with other big-budget flops, including Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and Furiosa.
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