Ouch. If anything, this is a redux of The Marvels performance last year, minus the writers’ strikes and appalling marketing.
Five years ago, a low-budget Warner Brothers feature starring Joaquin Phoenix as the infamous clown blew up worldwide in the fall season, earning an insane $1.079 billion (as the former highest-rated feature). The “old-school” Martin Scorsese (derivatively influenced) feature was sold as an all-audience event, one pressing against the superhero genre and experimenting with an audacious tale of mental illness, a cautionary tale for the world. It also had momentum as Oscar season was afloat, plus a deluge of media concerns as many theorized its violent nature would inspire further deadly shootings across the US (which did not unfold). Several biggies (No Time to Die and Wonder Woman 1984) flocked to the following year, creating a scenario where Joker became a tentpole event for the fall season before COVID shot its way around the world in March 2020.
But a sequel? No one wanted a sequel. And for as many hardcore fans live and preach, the remnants of Heath Ledger’s performance back in 2008 still haunt the memory of how to address this particular role with such enthusiasm. Granted, Phoenix did a sensational job, but this would be a “Jack-of-all-trades” sequel in which he could meticulously break the grounds further or end up like a tchotchke like Jared Leto’s uninspired take in 2016’s Suicide Squad. A $40 million opening weekend certifies the latter, as this miserably written tale brings a turgid symphony of bizarre musical notes and dissonant violence. Miserable reviews, a D from CinemaScore, and an asinine budget of $200 million ensure this is a far cry from its predecessor. Breaking even doesn’t seem feasible, even with a $121.1 global debut.
Folks didn’t clamor for a franchise, and the live-action Smurfs and Kick-Ass can attest to such matters. The first film overperformed so vastly that any follow-up would be impossible to deliver similar numbers, and Lady Gaga wasn’t enough of an added-value element to kickstart a new storm. Finally, the budget nearly tripling means Warner Brothers shot itself in the foot repeatedly, ignoring the “what the fans want” IP mentality and favoring another: “We did it once with an out-of-nowhere blockbuster, so let’s do it again.” By comparison, The Marvels ($206 million) bombed in contrast to its predecessor in 2019 ($1.131 billion). What Disney had to learn (or at least we hope they have) is that overexposure to the superhero genre had been gutted out so much by fatigue that new ideas had to be challenged to make it something worthwhile to watch again. Not every MCU feature will be an automatic hit, and the mediocre performances of Quantumania and Love and Thunder last year shedded light that gods can indeed bleed. Warner Brothers, in the dying days of the DCEU and now, still hasn’t learned how to make a (superhero) movie that can guarantee it will be a draw. Thus, the character of Joker needs to become quiet for a while before dancing again onscreen. All eyes are on you with Superman, James Gunn.
In other news, The Wild Robot earned $18.7 million in its second weekend. No, it’s not legging out like a Pixar champ, but then again, many animated originals haven’t been breakouts for years to come, so this is more of the “rehabilitation process.” It has passed $100 million globally, so holding out with legs may be a possibility for this run. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice held well in its fifth weekend with $10.325 million; it has now passed $400 million globally. Transformers One continues to crater with legs as it missed out on passing $100 million worldwide on its third weekend; converting the live-action back to animated may have brought a more promising product but sacrificed the return on investment. And Speak No Evil is holding up very well as it heads to $35 million domestically and $70 million worldwide while White Bird: A Wonder Story opened with $1.53 million.
Next weekend sees the release of Piece by Piece, The Apprentice, Brothers, Terrifier 3, and The Silent Hour.
