The box office results for the Joker sequel are even lower than the most pessimistic forecasts had predicted. The film fell 45% in attendance and ended its first weekend at $37.8 million. This is a 40% drop compared to the first film, which had grossed $96.2 million in its first weekend in theaters.
The reviews are almost unanimously negative and the exit polls are deplorable. The studio already regrets not having held test screenings and wonders how Todd Phillips could have had such autonomy and sole right of review over the final cut of his film…
DC would have given the Final Cut to Todd Phillips££££
Start of answer: unlike the first film where DC executives were involved, none of them were on this sequel. It should also be remembered that the project was "greenlit" and was moving forward well before James Gunn and Peter Safran took control of DC. The idea for a Joker sequel actually came to Joaquin Phoenix in a dream, an idea that he and Todd Phillips then brought to the studio, which gave them carte blanche, and today, is kicking itself for it.
Are Joaquin Phoenix's dreams nightmares?££££
Three lessons to be learned from this predicted shipwreck: 1. Not everyone can be Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight trilogy). Even when you give Scorsese carte blanche, it's not always successful (The Irishman). 2. Making sequels of sequels, listening to algorithms, redoing and redoing, not inventing anything anymore, is not synonymous with good box office results. 3. Joaquin Phoenix's dreams would be better off staying just that, because in the movies, they turn into nightmares for the audience and the studio.
And if we are to believe the actor's first reaction with Lady Gaga deciphered on his lips at the screening of the film at the Venice Film Festival (video below), for him too, Joker: Folie à Deux would now be a nightmare!