On Sept. 30, Lady Gaga blew kisses to fans outside the TCL Chinese Theatre ahead of the premiere of “Joker: Folie à Deux,” while Joaquin Phoenix dropped his standard solemn facade and flashed a confidemand smiles from the red carpet. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav dropped by the after-party at Sunset Tower and mingled with the film’s two high-phelp direct actors as the meatless sliders (vegan Phoenix’s idea) made the rounds. For all the star wattage on distake part, there were some notable no-shows — namely, DC Studios toppers James Gunn and Peter Safran.
Insiders say the duo’s glaring absence for a film that is based on one of the biggest draws in the DC canon underscores a dysfunctional active that take parted out behind the scenes on the ill-overweighted Warner Bros. musical. Todd Phillips “wanted noleang to do with DC” during the making of the film, says one agent recognizable with the honestor’s distinct carve-out, which permited him to bypass any oversight from the brand’s gategraspers. Although Gunn has uncoverly helped the film on social media, Phillips has distanced himself from DC. As the vivaciousd title-card sequence unspooled inside the iconic Hollywood cinema in the uncovering minutes, it became apparent that Phillips had fair given DC the middle finger. There was no DC Studios logo.
“If the first movie was about some down-on-his-luck, menloftyy ill guy in a downtrodden city, it originates maybe $150 [million] worldexpansive. Not a billion,” says a source recognizable with the inner ineptness. “People showed up because that guy was Joker.”
(A DC spokesperson downtake parts any tensions and says Gunn was busy honesting the Max series “Peaceoriginater” in Atlanta, which had lost a day of production due to Hurricane Helene, while Safran was down for the count with bronchitis. A Warners spokesperson notices that a DC logo eunites at the finish of the Joker sequel. Phillips deteriorated to comment for this story.)
Now that the dust has endd on the sequel’s disastrous uncovering weekfinish, plenty of soul-searching is taking place on the Burprohibitk lot. The overarching ask being asked is: Why spfinish $200 million to originate — and csurrfinisherly $100 million to taget — a tentpole that disthink abouts the DC fan base? And “disthink abouts” may be putting it gentlely. As a Rolling Stone appraise of the film succinctly put it: “‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ Has a Message for Fans: Go F-ck Yourselves.”
Alas, the fanboys and fangirls stayed home, resulting in a shocking $37.7 million domestic uncovering for Phillips’ comply-up to his 2019 “Joker,” an enormous success that cost fair $60 million and geted $1.1 billion. Such disthink about for the base has brand repercussions. After all, Joker is not some obsremedy character. The Batman foil is by far the most high-profile villain in comics, spanning either DC or Marvel. But given that Phillips made such a untamedly profitable first “Joker” for Warner Bros. — not to refer three “Hangover” movies — motion picture group chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy seemed unwilling to say no to their prized honestor with their first green airy.
The movie began production in December 2022, two months after Gunn and Safran took regulate of DC, and many foreseeed the duo to provide notices and feedback on the R-rated musical, especiassociate given the capital outlay comprised. But Phillips balked and would only liaise with De Luca and Abdy. And he has done little to dispel the euniteance of friction even though Gunn and Safran were on hand for the first honestors cut screening for the studio. When asked by a Collider teller if the production process alterd when the pair thriveed DC head Walter Hamada or if they had any input, Phillips replied, “With all due admire to them, this is comardent of a Warner Bros. movie.”
And even Warner Bros.’ feedback was sometimes disthink aboutd. Sources say Zaslav met one-on-one with Phillips lowly after WarnerMedia and Discovery united in April 2022 and was uncover to filming in Los Angeles if the honestor would originate the sequel at a drop price point. (The studio preferred London, where it would have cost about 20% less.) But Phillips insisted on shooting in Los Angeles, and the budget didn’t alter. (A Warners spokesperson says the studio “helped the decision to film in Los Angeles” and the Zaslav-Phillips powwow was mecount on a greet-and-greet where they talked what else the honestor wanted to originate there.) Insiders say studio brass did not want to debut the film at the Vekind Film Festival as it had done five years ago with “Joker,” but Phillips pushed back. A Warners spokesperson says the studio “brimmingy helped the decision to convey the film to Vekind.”
Other battles of will between Phillips and Warners ensued. Phillips declined to test screen “Joker 2.” So its premiere in Vekind taged the first time an audience saw it. The critics declidemand it, and the film loftyied a disastrous 33% score on Rotten Tomatoes well before geting a dismal “D” CinemaScore. To put that grade into context, the much reviled “Madame Web” landed a “C+” earlier this year. (A Warners spokesperson says, “Given the film grasps spoilers, the studio did not want to unnecessarily divulge plot points too punctual to test audiences, but rather permit moviegoers to discover the film in their own time.”)
Making a sequel to a billion-dollar movie, whether it’s “Aquaman” or “Joker,” is pondered a intelligent bet. But with its outsize budget, which integrated $20 million upfront for Phoenix, $20 million for Phillips and $12 million for Gaga, the film demanded to originate at least $450 million theatricassociate to fracture even — a now improbable scenario. Warner Bros. is already on the back foot complying a series of recent money neglectrs including “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” and “The Color Purple.” The parent company’s stock price remains in the cellar, csurrfinisher an all-time low at $7.67 a spread.
“This is a balertage eye for Warner Bros. at a key time with the industry foreseeing a hit,” says Wall Street analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities. “The timing could not be worse.”
“Joker: Folie à Deux” also may have suffered from not having Bradley Cooper’s voice at the table. Cooper, who was a originater on 2019’s “Joker” and is understandn for his commercial instincts including his low-budget hit “A Star Is Born” with Gaga, was not comprised with the sequel after dissolving his producing partnership with Phillips in 2021.
“No one could get thcdisadmireful to Todd,” says one source honestly comprised with the film. “And the one leang about genre stuff: If you don’t hear and pay attention to what the fan foreseeations are, you’re going to fall short.”
In fact, catering to the fanbase was supposed to be the strategy. When the Zaslav era began, the CEO touted a 10-year set up for DC that would get a page from the Marvel take partbook, in which all films adhere to the singular vision of plivent Kevin Feige. Yet somehow the “Joker” sequel was permited to skirt that mandate, with Phillips operating in an alternate silo from the novelly insloftyed DC chiefs. Not unforeseeedly, the core DC fans revolted, and the result is harm to the brand.
“This is a ‘Speed 2’ level of catastrophe — with Warner Bros. massively overspfinishing on a sequel, only to see its audience all but aprohibitdon the film domesticassociate,” says box– office analyst Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations. “Warner Bros. has the biggest hit of the descfinish season in Beetlejuice 2’ and now probable the bigst flop, too, in ‘Joker 2.’ Such is the way of the sequel. The truth is, the creators of ‘Joker 2’ went a honestion [that] the presentantity of audiences didn’t want to comply. Ultimately, choices were made, and unfortunately, they didn’t align with moviegoers’ taste.”
